Pokemon: Gen E
by SkeletonSLiM
Summary: The day a child is permitted to have a Pokemon is the most important day of their life. It's the day they're permitted to travel the world, to see the harmonic beauty created by nature and Pokemon alike. It's the day where they are permitted to be called Pokemon Trainers, and show their friends, family, and themselves what they are truly capable of in this vast, amazing world.
1. Chapter 1: Embarking

Chapter One: Embarking

Today was seemingly a day just like any other. The sun was shining brightly through my bedroom window, right into my eyes as I lay in bed. I usually kept my blinds closed all the time to keep my room nice and dark so I can sleep in longer, but today was very different. I woke up bright and early because today was my fifteenth birthday, and it would be the day that I get my first Pokemon, officially making my a fully-fledged Pokemon Trainer. As much as it bugged me, Zatharian law says that a person can't get a Pokemon until they reach their mid-teens, but now I could kick that law to the curb along with the days of being an anxious fourteen year old. I jumped out of bed, pushing my messy brown hair out of my eyes while throwing on the clothes I had set out the night prior. I put on my amber orange t-shirt and jeans, and grabbed my lucky beanie. It was black with a yellow circle in the center, much like the pattern found on the head of an Umbreon. Despite my hurry, I apparently wasn't moving fast enough. My two best friends were standing outside knocking on the door and shouting for me from my front lawn, and the chaos inside built on that. My mom was at the door greeting my friends and telling them that I'd be just a minute, while my dad was shouting up to me from the first floor to quit being a slowpoke. I hurriedly groomed myself, threw on my boring white sneakers, and met my friends right at my front door. Cade, an average-sized guy with mid-length reddish-brown, somewhat wavy hair that hung right above his left eye, wearing a denim coat with pockets on the front and black shirt underneath, with jeans that bagged over his grey tennis shoes looked at me from my left, while Alyssa, a fairly skinny girl with short blonde hair that fell to her shoulders and winged out at the bottom, with bangs that swept across her forehead. She was wearing her sleeveless pink hoodie with a light green shirt underneath, skinny jeans and blue tennis shoes at my right. She wore an excited look that only looked a little more elevated than usual, while Cade's face wore an actual smile compared to his normally placid demeanor. They had been waiting much longer than this morning. They had turned fifteen months prior to me, but had waited on me out of the sake of starting our journey as a group, just like everything had been in the past.

"It's about time, Jude. I thought you said you'd wake up early this time." Cade said in a somewhat scolding tone, most likely being that he was anxious and ready to get his Pokemon from the professor, clearly bearing no patience.

"Sorry man, I thought I'd be able to get up sooner, with what today is and all, but I…" I began, but was was interrupted by being pulled the rest of the way outside by my arm by Alyssa.

"Yea, yea, it's alright! Let's get this train back on track!" She said to me in a fired up fashion while pulling me past them, causing me to stumble a little once she let go. My mom chuckled at our sloppy excitement as she waved me off and closed the door. The three of us gathered our composure and began to the professors lab, which felt like miles, but in reality it was literally a couple yards away from my home.

We entered the large white building to see a plethora of advanced technology and various scientists recording data and reading textbooks on the anatomy and behavior of Pokemon. In the back of the laboratory stood Professor Maple, her bright orange hair tied up in a large bun, wearing her usual white lab coat and black collared shirt and skirt combo, looking at us with a smile through her round glasses with piercing yellow eyes. We approached her, practically shaking at the thought that soon we'd hold the Pokeball of our own Pokemon in our hands. Behind her was a white table with three Pokeballs sitting on top of it.

"Hello, children. I can tell just by how you walked in that you don't exactly need me to explain this process." She said in a relaxed, but amused tone.

"Yes Ma'am." I responded almost rapidly. "I've been studying since I was little. I'm ready!"

Alyssa hypocritically laughed at my excitement while Cade simply stood there shaking his head in embarrassment, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Gee, congratulations bookworm. Want a ribbon?"

I shot him a glare that was promptly returned to me. I could practically feel lasers darting from each of our eyes. Even though we were friends, we've always been competitive with each other, while Alyssa just hung around for the show, more than likely thinking that we were both idiots for being so on-edge about being better than the other.

"Alright, settle down you three. These Pokemon are just as excited as you to see the world. You can't exactly keep them waiting now, can you?" We all caught ourselves and looked at the table as Professor Maple moved out of our way. On the edge of the table were little plaques under each Pokeball, telling us what they contained. On the far left, there was the water type, Totodile, the Big Jaw Pokemon. In the center was the fire type, Fennekin, the Fox Pokemon, and lastly, on the far right, was the grass type, Turtwig, the Tiny Leaf Pokemon. Alyssa and I jutted forward to grab ours while Cade stood, either contemplating his choice rather than submitting to impulse or just to watch us struggle to grab one. The professor, while finding this behavior hysterical for teenagers, intervened and split us up.

"Okay, okay" She began, still giggling. "How about you two go about this in a more controlled manner, like your friend?"

We backed up to stand next to Cade and stared once again at the Pokeballs and plaques, shining in the morning light coming through the window on the far left side of the room. We stood in silence for another few seconds before it was broken.

"You should go first, Jude." Cade said, not making any attempt at eye contact. "You've been doing your homework, pal. Take whichever." I looked over at him, as if to ask if he was sure with my eyes. He returned my look and gave me his implicit answer.

"Yea, Jude!" Alyssa broke in. "I don't mind which one I get either. A companion is a companion, no matter what type it is!"

I nodded at the two and stepped forward. I stood, gazing downwards at the three red and white spheres, milling over my choices one last time before reaching. I stretched my arm out to the center Pokeball, and pulled it back to me. "This one. I choose Fennekin."

I heard footsteps come from behind me, to my left. Cade picked up the Pokeball with Totodile within. "Then I'll take this one. Totodile's mine."

I slowly looked over to him with a twitch in my eye.

_did he seriously just trick me? I know the advantage system with types, and Cade's no dummy to them either._

I felt like saying something, but I think that he read the look on my face well enough to know what I was thinking. He smirked at me as if to say "Gotcha'" with closed lips. We've always had this silent wavelength with each other since we were young, but why was I thinking about it so much now? In our staring match, Alyssa had practically skipped to the table and picked up the last Pokeball.

"Well, I guess that means that you're mine, right, little guy?"

The professor walked over to us with three small, red devices in her hands. I've looked through my books enough times to know that she was about to hand us our Pokedexes, the digital Pokemon encyclopedias that we would fill up as we go on with our journeys. They were somewhat bulky, but lightweight. She also handed each of us five empty Pokeballs so we could build on our team, whether we chose to go into Gym Battles or Pokemon Contests.

"You children give me a very strong feeling that you have great legacies ahead of you as trainers. Good luck to all three of you!" She said to us as we made our way out of the lab. I couldn't stop staring at my Pokeball. What would training a Fennekin be like? How well would it like me? I was too excited to get started, but I had to stop home to grab my backpack. Being that they were up much earlier than me, my friends had already prepared their backpacks and set them outside to pick up once they had their Pokemon.

"Hey, sorry to hold us up, but I need to get my bag ready. Wait for me?" I said in an excusing tone.

"Sure, I gotta say bye to my dad anyway." Cade said as he made his way back towards his house on the other side of the small town.

"I already said my goodbyes, so I'll wait for you two at the exit, m'kay?" Alyssa said as she tightened the strap on her satchel around her shoulder. I nodded and ran inside, immediately greeted by my parents, but more specifically, greeted by their bombardment of questions. I'm not sure whether they were unaware of taking turns or if they were just talking too fast for anyones good, because I couldn't understand anything they were asking me. Soon I broke the pattern, or lack there of, of their questions and told them I needed my bag.

"Oh, right! Sorry, sweetie. You can't forget that now!" My mom said as she ran upstairs to grab my bag. My dad stood next to me as we waited for my mom and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"You better go and become champ, kiddo. We expect nothing less from you."

I smiled at him as my mom came running back down the staircase with my bag gripped in her hand. "Here you go, Juddie!" she said as she practically tossed the bag into my arms. I gave off a subtle sigh of relief that she didn't call me that embarrassing nickname in front of Cade. That would have been a fate worse than death, as far as I was concerned.

"I packed your books so you could read on the road, along with plenty of clean clothes. Please, please stay safe. If you got hurt…"

My dad and I didn't understand, or really want to see, my mom get all emotional and worrying about me doing this, so we both jumped to comfort her right away. My dad put his hands on her shoulders from behind her while I did the talking.

"I'll be okay, mom. I'm not a little kid that'll trip over the curb anymore, and plus I have my Pokemon now to protect me if things get rough."

"Okay, dear. I know, it's just, you know how I am." She responded with a smile forming across her face and small tears forming in her eyes. "I know you'll be safe. Please, have fun on your trip."

I nodded at her and my dad, waved goodbye and left the house. I closed my door behind me to see Cade leaning on the side of his house, wearing his backpack with a map sticking out of the back with his new pokemon standing next to him, looking up to his head. I walked over to the two to tell him I was ready.

"About time, Jude. Figured since you were taking so long I'd see what my Totodile was all about." He looked down to the small blue gator and reached out to pat his head, only to be greeted by it chomping its sharp teeth on his arm. We both held completely still for a moment, processing what just happened. Cade stood up, Totodile still latched on to his arm and put him back in his Pokeball.

"He's a fighter, alright." He said as he slipped the ball into his backpack. "I think I can safely say that we'll be a good team."

In all the excitement, I couldn't believe that I hadn't taken a look at my Pokemon yet. I reached for my ball when Alyssa yelled to us from the front of town.

"C'mon, hurry up! We're burning daylight!"

We rushed over to meet up with her, only to see that she had released her Turtwig, and was carrying it in her bag. The small turtle-like Pokemon looked up at Cade and I.

"Isn't he just the coolest thing? Small enough that I can carry him around with me, like my own little bag-buddy!" She said giddily.

I had to see now. First to pick, but last to see my own Pokemon? That didn't make any sense, now that I was thinking about it. I pulled my Pokeball from my backpack and released my Fennekin. The small fox burst from the ball in a flash of white light, which then faded to reveal the fire type. It looked up to me with its large eyes, and sneezed, causing a small fire to briefly light from its nose. Alyssa stared at it with adoring eyes white Cade, on the opposite end of the spectrum, was analyzing it. I pulled out my Pokedex slowly so I wouldn't scare him, and I held it with the opened lid towards the Pokemon. I heard a small scanning sound and a picture of the Pokemon appeared on the top screen of the device.

_Fennekin: The Fox Pokemon._

_Eating a twig fills it with energy, and its roomy ears give vent to air hotter than 390 degrees Fahrenheit._

The machine said to me in a monotonous and obviously robotic voice.

"That's so awesome! Don't you think, Turtwig?" Alyssa said, looking her Pokemon in the eye.

"_Tur!"_ the small pokemon responded.

I returned Fennekin to his Pokeball and we set forth to the next town over, where we would be able to battle the first gym, and truly see what we, as trainers, were made of.


	2. Chapter 2: In Tall Grass

Chapter 2: In Tall Grass

As we walked down what seemed like an endless stretch of flat, grassy terrain, we didn't speak. none of us had any words to describe the sensations we were feeling. We finally had our own Pokemon, and walked the path to the first of the Gym Leaders, and if we were skilled enough, the Elite Four. While all of this was on my mind, I couldn't help but to think about our hang out tree back home. It was a healthy, shady tree in the far corner of town, where Pidgeys would sometimes fly in and out of. It was a nice, large evergreen, so big that I felt that several Bug Type pokemon could have been living up there as well. That spot would drive our passions wild, making us more anxious and impatient for the future to come. I let out a sigh of gratefulness that the future we all imaged had finally come to reality. Today was awfully sunny, and the sun shone directly at our eyes, which gave me the urge to turn back to town and sit under the tree. As I was lost in thought, Cade was elbowing me, trying to get my attention.

"Hello? Zatharia to Jude, do you read?"

He was practically shouting while waving his left hand in front of my face and keeping his right hand curled up in his coat pocket as he walked down the path backwards. I blinked myself back to reality and shoved him a little forward.

"Dude, cut it out, I was just daydreaming!" I responded through a laugh. "So, since you've got the map, I suppose that makes you the navigator?"

He pulled the well-kept piece of paper from his bag and unrolled it, revealing a full image of Zatharia. From every mountain to every molehill, it was labeled on the map.

"Yep, I suppose it does. Let's see here…" He said as he examined the map more closely. "We should get to Envia Town sometime in the next hour, if we take the shortest route possible."

He rolled the map back up and returned it to his backpack as Alyssa's Turtwig let out a sound to something ahead of us. We all looked in a more alert fashion towards the direction Turtwig had called at. In the distance there was a large mass of high standing trees, and a path that opened into them. Once we had come closer, we saw a sign to the right of the entrance.

~Envia Way: Zatharia's Forest~.

The lettering was somewhat formal, and carved into the wood of the sign. The trees were several times larger than the tree back home, and guarded the forest within from any sunlight. The branches above rustled with the movement of the wild Pokemon, some of the leaves falling below to us. I gazed into the darkness of the forest, ready to venture into it's unknown. I released Fennekin from its Pokeball so it could be able to observe the world with me, not to be left out of the adventure. Once again, I was greeted by a weak, fiery sneeze from the small animal followed by a smile. Cade followed my lead, and let Totodile out as shook itself up, looking like it was trying to wake itself up. He proceeded to pick it up and hoisted it up on his left shoulder. Totodile was excited to be able to stretch out, and headbutted Cade lightly on the side of the head. I walked in with Fennekin at my side, my friends not too far behind me with their allies as well. This was our true first steps into the world.

The forest was much darker than anticipated once we were inside, but there were some spots above in the trees that allowed sunlight to shine into the beautiful landscape. Compared to the road here, it was very flat, but decorated by the plant life and wild Pokemon wandering around the area. Turtwig was awestruck by the forest, and I could tell that he felt very at home here, while Totodile, on the other hand, was falling asleep on Cade, using his head as a pillow. I chuckled to nobodys notice, and looked at Fennekin. The moment it looked back at me with a small smile across its face made me more content then I think I've been in a very long time. I felt relaxed, and sincerely happy, almost to the point of letting a tear out. Then again, Cade wouldn't let me hear the end of that, so I kept it in. The sounds of the Pokemon chattering beyond the brush and the footsteps in the tall, soft grass were satisfying to the ear, somehow lightening the hearts of those around it. Soon enough though, the silence between the three of us was broken.

"Today is perfect… Better than, actually." Alyssa said quietly. "The weather is on our side, nature is at ease, our Pokemon are happy with us… It couldn't be better." She finished looking through one of the gaps in the leaves, up to the near cloudless sky.

"I honestly couldn't agree more." Cade said as he glanced over to Totodile, scratching him on the side of the head. "It was a good idea on your part to wait for the kid to leave town."

"Hey, give me at least a little more credit, old man!" I responded comically, pointing directly at his nose. Cade was sixteen plus three months, unlike Alyssa and I who were both fifteen.

_"Fen!"_

We all looked at Fennekin, who was transfixed on what was ahead with wide eyes. It continued letting out yelps as we walked, until we saw what he was yelping at.

_"Fen! Fen!"_

The path ahead had forked into three separate ways, each of them seemingly identical and dark, no way of being able to see beyond it without traversing it. Cade reached back into his back and pulled the map back out.

"Hey, Jude. Pull that end out, will you?"

I pulled the map to unroll it for visibility, being that Cade only had one arm to work with. While Cade and I looked over the map, Alyssa had put Turtwig on the ground to play in the grass. He nudged the flowers that sprouted amongst the grass with his tiny legs, eventually rolling around in them.

"Alright, all of these paths should open up to the same exit, so it doesn't really matter which way we go." Cade said, tugging my end of the map from me. He began walking forward as he rerolled and placed the map back in his bag, but he didn't make it far before being stopped.

"Wait, I have an idea!" Alyssa said picking up Turtwig and tucking him under her arm. "Instead of all of us going down the same boring road, why don't we each pick a different one? We would get the most out of it that way!"

Cade and I looked at each other over the idea, and I nodded in agreement while Cade shrugged and turned back around to take the center path.

"Well, at least he's ready to push forward." Alyssa said in an almost disappointed tone. "So, which way do you want to go, Jude?"

I looked down both paths and then back to her. "Well, you chose last back at town when it came to our starters, so I think it's only fair that you choose which road you want."

"Oh, don't get political with me, mister! It doesn't matter if I'm the last to go ever! I insist you…"

She was cut off by the fluttering of several wings above, catching both of our attention as well as our Pokemon's. A group of Butterfree were making their way through the forest, which was extremely fascinating to Turtwig. His eyes glittered at the sight of the Bug Types, and he launched himself out from under Alyssa's arm back to the ground. The swarm made their way down the left path, and Turtwig bolted after them at the drop of a hat.

"Turtwig! Come back, you loon!" Alyssa yelled as she chased her Pokemon down the left road. As she continued running down the road, she turned her head around slightly to glance at me. "Well, here you go! I chose before you, now get a move on, slowpoke!" she shouted back before disappearing in the darkness. Fennekin and I looked at each other and turned to follow the far right road to wherever it may lead.

The path was darker than the single road, with no gaps in the now thicker leaves above to provide light. My eyes attempted adjusting to the darkness, but Fennekin consistently lit the path ahead with small embers, making us able to see, at most, a few feet ahead. It wasn't much, but it was better than stumbling around in the dark. There were no more sounds of Pokemon roaming the woods, nor were there any more sounds of nature itself. The atmosphere grew heavy and eerie around us, and I could almost call the circumstance unsettling. Soon, in Fennekin's light, three small, round, silhouetted figures lay in the middle of the way.

"Fennekin, hold up a second." I whispered. "I have a weird feeling about this, so let's take it slow, okay?"

I was on one knee, talking to Fennekin very closely, to make sure that he could hear me, and the figures didn't. We tip toed towards the three shapes of darkness and got a close look. I was relieved that the others weren't here to see what I was so worried about. At a much closer look, I saw that the shapes were only rocks, organized relatively close together. I laughed it off and picked one up in both my hands.

"Look, Fen. They're just rocks! Pretty heavy ones, though."

I was lightly tossing it up in the air, until two shapes in the appearance of arms, with three fingers and large forearms pulled from the other side of it and clenched its fists. I was even more surprised when the rock started growling. I panicked and dropped it back to the ground, causing the other two rocks to do the same as the first. They all turned themselves around and looked at me with large eyes and clenched teeth. It took me a minute to process what was happening, until it hit me like a ton of bricks. These were Pokemon! I whipped out my Pokedex, clumsily dropping it into the dirt. I quickly picked it up again and opened it, pretending I didn't drop it in the first place. The device scanned one of the Rock-Types with a small camera-like device on the lid and returned to the main screen with information about them.

_Geodude: The Rock Pokemon._

_Commonly found near mountain trails, etc. If you step on one by accident, it gets angry._

Having this information in my Pokedex was great and all, but I didn't need a machine to tell me that bugging these guys would get them angry, not after the piercing glares they shot me. The center one plunged its arms into the ground, using that base to launch itself towards Fennekin like a cannonball. I panicked. This was my first encounter with a wild Pokemon. My first battle. Instead of giving Fennekin a command, I jumped in front of him, taking the full force of the Geodude's headbutt in my stomach. After it collected itself from its attack, It hopped back to the two others waiting to get a shot at us. Fennekin came close to me and began rubbing his head on my back, trying to comfort me. My Pokedex had fallen right in front of me, which gave me an idea. Earlier my Pokedex had said that eating twigs gives Fennekin energy. I frantically searched around myself, and found twigs scattered at the bases of the enormous trees around us. I quickly grabbed several as another one of the Rock Pokemon prepared for the same attack the first had done. I dropped a handful of at least five twigs in front of Fennekin hastily.

"Fen, quick! Eat up!"

Fennekin consumed the twigs with happy eyes in a matter of seconds, and prepared itself in a battle stance. The Geodude launched itself at Fennekin, convinced it would succeed as the last one did, but instead was greeted by a burst of steam from Fennekin's ears right into its eyes. The force of the steam sent the Pokemon back a foot or so, causing it to rub its eyes during its temporary blindness. The sound that was made from the jet of steam was high pitched and extremely loud, clearly startling the two Geodudes behind the attacking one, being that a sound as loud as that coming from a Pokemon as small as Fennekin would startle almost anything. The duo let out noises of discontent as they rolled themselves into the thick brush that lead back into the depths of the forest and fled, leaving their ally behind to face Fennekin and I. While it was getting its bearings back, I felt that this was a wide open opportunity to catch my first wild Pokemon. I threw my backpack to the ground and dug for one of the Pokeballs that Professor Maple had given me. Once I had one, I clicked the button in the center of it, causing it to swell larger in my hand, making it almost bigger than my palm.

"Alright, Geodude! Let's do this!"

I shouted as I threw the Pokeball at it. The ball landed in a pile of dirt next to the Pokemon, showing me that I needed to work on my aim. Fennekin looked at me with a disapproving look.

"What? It's not my fault, it's crazy dark out here!"

I stopped speaking once I realized I was arguing a point that wasn't debatable with a Pokemon, and as I heard the Rock-Type let out a grunt. It had it's vision back, and wasn't happy about the surprise blinding. It stretched its arms out, ready to battle again, only to touch the button on the Pokeball, causing it to be enveloped in a bright red light and sucked into the ball. It began shaking back and forth as the Pokemon attempted fighting its way out. I stared at it with anxious eyes, hoping it would work. After two shakes, the ball burst back open, breaking the top and bottom halves from each other, ruining the ball completely as a now infuriated Geodude developed through a white light in front of me. It dug its hands into the now tampered soil and begun flinging balls of dirt at Fennekin, hitting about every third shot in its fury. At the time, all Fennekin could do to combat was dodge and wait for an opening to strike. Soon, noticing that Geodude was maintaining stationery, I had an idea.

"Fennekin!" I yelled. "Keep up the dodging, but try to get closer to it in the process!"

_"Fen!"_ it responded as it turned back to look at me. Just as he turned back around to progress with the plan, he was hit square in the snout with a wad of dirt, knocking him backwards a little. I took that as a sure sign that I should quiet up and let Fennekin focus. The small fox hopped around the path, evading the mud balls being launched at him. Soon, Fennekin was close enough to the Geodude to land an attack.

"Alright, Fen! Use your Ember attack!" I shouted in a determined fashion. I was elated by this adrenaline flowing through my system. I felt like a real trainer, just like the ones I've read about and seen on TV. A small flame lit at Fennekin's mouth, which was soon launched at the stubborn Pokemons face. It hadn't made any attempt to move, but it didn't really have much time to, regardless. Fennekin hopped back after hitting the attack as the Geodude, although not completely phased by the attack, began wiping its eyes again, giving me another opportunity to try and catch it. I pulled another ball from my bag and prepared to throw it.

"Alright, take two! Fennekin, move aside, pal!"

I launched the ball in the Pokemon's direction, making sure I aimed right at it. Fennekin hopped to the side, allowing the ball to hit Geodude right in its forehead, once again pulling it in with a mass of red light. The ball shook as it did before, keeping me on the edge of my seat. After several shakes, it stopped moving, and let out a clicking sound, locking the ball. A very wide smile grew across my face as I ran over to pick up Fennekin and the Pokeball in my excitement.

"Haha! Did you see that, Fen? We caught it! We really caught it!"

I was holding the ball in the air with my left hand and Fennekin with the other. I felt as though I was the best trainer around for this victory. Soon enough I was brought back to reality by a small sneeze and a slight warmth on my hand above me. I brought both my arms down and held Fennekin close to my chest. We both looked at the Pokeball for another minute before putting it back in my back, but in a pocket separate from everything else I had packed.

"Hey, good work out there, buddy. How are you feeling after that?" I said to Fennekin as I placed him gingerly back onto the ground. He was breathing with exhaustion, but still gave me a smile and a small noise.

"Hey, how about you take a break?" I said as I pulled his Pokeball back out from my bag. He gave me a slight nod, signaling me to put him back.. I clicked the button, and just like catching the Geodude before, a red light surrounded the little fox and returned him to the ball. I slid it into my backpack again and continued down the road for what felt like an hour. Once I saw the light of the end of the path, my legs were killing me. Just as I was about to exit, I heard a familiar voice in the distance.

"The exit! Finally!"

The voice was approaching quickly, and by the time I turned around, I was plowed into by none other than Alyssa. She body slammed me to the ground and ended up falling with me. On impact, I heard myself make a startled sound along with the surprised sounds of her and her Turtwig. I was lying on my back, Alyssa laying on top of me. We both groaned in pain as my face was cheek down to the dirt, and Alyssa's was cheek down on my other cheek. Once we both got our bearings, we made brief eye contact, which felt like an eternity, before hurriedly getting up and collecting ourselves. In the crisp light coming in through the exit, I could see that Alyssa's face was flushed in a light crimson color, complimenting her blue eyes, and by the warmth that was developing on my face, I could tell that I looked the same.

"So, uh, hehe…" She started as she rubbed the back of her head with her right hand as she checked on Turtwig with her left. "How about we get going, huh?" She tapped her fist on my arm in a friendly manner as she made her way towards the exit. I brushed myself off and followed behind her, the sun shining much brighter than before, in my perspective. Once my eyes had readjusted to the unconcealed brightness of the day, a small town with a very clear attachment to nature caught my vision. Various types of trees in a young stage decorated the town in an admirable fashion, the various green colors of the leaves complimenting each other as they rustled in the wind, some turning to the colors of autumn in flawless locations, creating a beautiful scene before me. The buildings were made of durable looking logs that composed themselves in a more rustic fashion than the buildings back home. The grass stood to the height of the top of my foot, being much shorter and tended to than the grass in the forest. I took a deep breath of the satisfyingly clean air as I watched Alyssa make her way into a white building with a red roof, much more advanced looking than the other buildings around it, established next to a similar looking building with a blue roof instead. I followed her to the building where up close, the wooden sign, much like the one at the entrance of the forest, was easily readable.

**Welcome to the Envia Town Pokemon Center.**


	3. Chapter 3: Bugging Me til' I'm Saur

Chapter 3: Bugging Me til' I'm Saur

Walking through the charming little town was like walking on air. I could almost feel underlying stress and the pain in my stomach melting off of my body. The people walking about the town under daily routine all looked at ease, like this peacefulness was normal everywhere. There weren't many people though, over half of them being elderly and a small number being adults that appeared to be somewhere in their mid-thirties to early forties, and very young children, maybe seven at the oldest. It was making me a little jealous, but I was happy for them. I entered the Pokemon Center through an automatic door, seeing a very organized set up inside. On the far end of the room in front of me, there was a salmon colored counter with a kind looking young woman standing behind it, her hands properly held behind her back. Her hair was pink and tied in two loops in the front, both being identical in size and shape. Her eyes were a soft hazel color, and she wore a boldly colored pink dress with white apron, along with a small white hat which displayed what looked like a plant just beginning to grow in the same shade of pink as the dress. Next to the counter on the right was a machine with a wide screen which sat on top of a large mechanically powered box with a thin keyboard jutting out to about where the middle of my torso is, and next to that device was a row of three seats, the center one being sat in my an elderly woman in a blue dress. The floors and walls were decorated with textured apricot tiling in elegant diamond patterns. Alyssa stood at the counter, watching what was happening behind it. I approached behind her and began watching what she was. Behind the woman was a machine with six circular grooves built in, three rows of two horizontally. A single Pokeball was sitting in the top left groove, which lead me to assume that it was Turtwigs Pokeball on the machine. Below light blue lights were shining, illuminated the ball from underneath. Soon the light dissipated and it let out a quick dinging sound.

"There you go, ma'am. Your Pokemon is all healed. We hope to see you again soon!"

Her voice was youthful and friendly, and bore a very lady-like tone to it.

"Thanks a ton! See you!" She said, releasing Turtwig back into her bag. She turned around and flinched at the sight of me. She then put her hand over her heart and let out a deep sigh. "Jude! You can't just sneak up on people like that!"

I chuckled at her and took a look at Turtwig. He actually looked even better than before. He gave off a vibe of health and higher energy.

"Hey, Turtwig looks awfully happy." I said patting him on the head.

"Yep, he's fresh as a daisy. You should probably get Fennekin patched up himself."

I turned around to look at the nurse, and she greeted me with a smile.

"Welcome to the Envia Town Pokemon Center! May we restore your Pokemon to full health?" She said to me in the same friendly tone, but she recited it like she's said it over a thousand times before. I pulled Fennekin's and Geodude's Pokeballs out of my bag and placed them on the counter.

"Wow, you already caught yourself another Pokemon?" Alyssa said in a somewhat shocked, but elated tone.

The nurse picked one ball up with each hand, turned around and went over to the machine, gently placing them into the tray. She pushed a short sequence of buttons which activated the light blue light that radiated underneath Alyssa's Pokemon before. I put it together that the device was giving off some kind of healthy radiation which went through the Pokeball and affected the Pokemon inside. As quickly as it started, it ended with an identical dinging sound that emitted before.

"There you go, sir. Your Pokemon are all healed. We hope to see you again soon!"

If she didn't say sir, I would have assumed that her voice was working off of a tape recorder that was on a constant loop. I took my Pokemon back from her and placed them back into my bag.

"Thank you, miss."

Alyssa and I made our way out of the almost empty building back into the town. The fresh air was a satisfying aspect that never lost its touch, with me at least.

"So, how did the forest treat you?" I asked as I slipped my hands into my pockets.

"Oh, the weirdest thing happened. I was chasing Turtwig and those Butterfree, when out of nowhere this crazy high pitched sound scared them away. They were flying all over the place in a frenzy, so I took the opportunity to scoop up Turtwig and make a break for it. Do you have any idea what that was?"

I laughed as I swung my bag to my side onto one shoulder and began patting it. "Well, that would have been Fen, here."

Alyssa nodded with an impressed look on her face. "Nice, guy. If he can do that now, I can't wait to see what he's capable of when he's evolved."

I nodded in agreement. I was excited to train Fennekin and see what the process of evolution was like for Pokemon. I've read about it and I think I've seen a documentary or two on it, but it's not really an experience unless you see it in person. As we continued another short way through the town, we were called by an old man in a brown beret wearing a green collared shirt under khaki overalls and black work boots.

"Excuse me, youngsters, but I couldn't help but to overhear you two talking about your Pokemon. You are trainers, yes?"

The old man had a raspy, but generous voice. His eyes were squinted to the point of almost mistaking it for him walking around with his eyes closed.

"Yessir, we are. Why?" Alyssa responded before I could fully process the simple question.

"Well," he began. "Envia Town is home to the first Pokemon Battle Gym in the region. It's on the far east end of town, you couldn't miss it unless you were blind! I recommend, if you two are the up-and-coming trainers you say you are, that you make your way over there and battle the Gym Leader!"

He was pointing beyond a small cluster of more matured trees at the end of the town towards a building that appeared entangled in tree trunks.

"Yes, the leader is a dedicated lad. Just battled another boy not too long ago."

We both looked at him with surprise. Another trainer had just been here? There was only one conclusion to draw from that. Cade had beat us here by a long shot, and apparently didn't have the patience to wait up.

"Well, thank you. A trainer's gotta start somewhere, right?" I said as I started walking at a brisk pace towards the gym.

"Yes, hehe. Yes he does." He said fading into a whisper before walking away, back towards a garden full of lush vegetables surrounded by a very short picket fence. Alyssa caught up to me in a quick jog, and the two of us passed the trees and saw in better detail the gym.

It was a building that appeared to be built from the same materials as the Pokemon Center, but had a light brown roof overhead, and was twice the width. What I thought were just trunks earlier were revealed to be much more as well. It was an enormous tree that grew over the gym, an uncountable number of feet into the air, with a large mass of leaves above to shade the area. I wondered how I didn't notice it when I entered the town, but I guessed that I was too taken away by its blissful beauty to notice. We made our way towards the door, which automatically opened itself just like the Center, but the inside was vastly different. Various young trees, much like the ones outside, lined the edges of well trimmed hedges that stood up to shoulder height which stretched around the edge of the entire building, except for the far right corner, which had another one of those healing machines that were in the Pokemon Center. The ground wasn't tiled, or even covered in a hardwood of any sort. The floor was grass, but much healthier looking and well tended to. Flowers of all kinds and colors were scattered about, some alone and some in clusters. A soft dirt path that was lined off like a battle arena, with a circle in the center and an even dividing line between sides, lead to the far end of the building, where a boy in a green hoodie stood, saluting us as we entered. Admiring the beauty of everything, we made our way to the back. Once closer, he modestly smiled at us held his hand up in a wave.

"Hey, and welcome to the Envia Town Gym. I'm Ethan, the Gym Leader." He said in a content, relaxed tone. His eyes were a dark brown behind plastic framed glasses, and his short hair and big eyebrows matched in color. It was pushed up, but not spiked. Around his neck, hanging down over his hoodie, was a brown plaid scarf that looked to have a mild antiquity to it, and he looked to be as old as us, maybe a year or two older. He was a very skinny guy, and I could almost joke that he'd disappear if he turned sideways. While looking at him, I couldn't help but to think that he had started his journey so soon and was already a Gym Leader. I could feel that my face was scrunching in confusion.

"I know what you're thinking just by the looks you're giving me. I am kind of young to be a Gym Leader, but I'm the only trainer in town who could take the spot." He said correctingly, but politely. "Anyway, we're here to battle for this, right?" He finished as he held up to me a small pin that was made of a light green gem, encased in a gold border that had the same appearance as the young plant on the nurse's hat. He put in in his pocket and gestured his hand out to have Alyssa and I go onto the other side of the arena that was marked out on the ground. We positioned ourselves in lined off boxes to command our Pokemon from while Alyssa took Turtwig over to the sidelines and stood over by the hedges to watch. He pulled his hoodie up a little to reveal a belt that had notches to hold Pokeballs, and two were strapped to the first peg on each side. He took the one from his left, clicked the button to enlarge it, and threw it out to the field.

"Come on out, Pineco!"

The ball landed, opening up to release the Pokemon in the bright, white light before being flung back to his hands. Once the light developed into a definite shape, it was revealed as a blue-green pinecone shaped figure, with two large red eyes and a stem-like point coming from the top of its head. I pulled out my Pokedex and held it up to the Pokemon.

_Pineco: The Bagworm Pokemon._

_It likes to make its shell thicker by adding layers of tree bark. The additional weight doesn't bother it._

It methodically rocked in place with a prepared and focused look in its eye as it waited for me to release the Pokemon is was going to battle with. I pulled my Pokeball and threw it out at the ground.

"I choose you, Fennekin!"

The ball did the same as Ethan's and released Fennekin before returning to me. Fennekin posed itself in a combat-ready position and looked the Pineco right in the eyes, slightly tampering the moment with a sneeze. He and I prepared ourselves as well, and let the battle begin.

I jumped right into the fight, getting Fennekin hyped to fight.

"Fennekin, hit em' with a Tackle!" I shouted pointing at Pineco. Fennekin rushed forward and hit the stationary Pokemon head-on, causing a visible reaction from it, but no movement from the spot it sat in. Fennekin hopped back a little, giving itself time to prepare for its next attack. I expected retaliation from Ethan, but he threw me off kilter with his order.

"Okay Pineco, just bide your time, buddy. Patience is a virtue!"

This sounded to me more like praising for patience than preparing to battle. I was confused on what strategy he was going for, but I needed to stop it now, whatever it was going to turn into.

"Fennekin, use Ember, quick!"

Fennekin prepared the small flame in its mouth and shot it at Pineco, affecting the Pokemon in a highly more noticeable manner, causing it to clenched its eyes shut and let out a cry. Thinking more now, if the Gym Leader kept with this nature-centric theme in his Pokemon, I would have a full advantage, being that Pineco is a Bug-Type, and Fennekin was a pure Fire-Type Pokemon..

"Pineco! Are you okay?" Ethan shouted with concern tied into his voice.

"_Pine…"_ It responded weakly, but in an assuring tone.

Ethan nodded, and a small smile appeared on his face.

"Alright, buddy, then go at it!"

The Pineco began quaking furiously in its spot, locking its sights on Fennekin with determined eyes.

"_Pine…"_

It began compressing itself in a way, preparing itself for a powerful attack. I was watching it so closely that I almost lost myself in thought.

"_Co!"_ It shouted out as it fired like a rocket from the ground, causing dirt and stones to fly into the air as it began heading directly at Fennekin at an unbelievable speed.

"Fennekin! Dodge it, quick!"

Neither Fennekin or I were fast enough to prevent impact. Pineco slammed into Fennekin, sending the small fox flying backwards towards me. He landed near my feet, struggling to stand up again.

"You can do it, Fen! I know you can!"

I yelled as I watched the stumbling Pokemon with determined eyes. He was panting, breathing heavily as he tried to catch up with himself. I looked over to see Alyssa and Turtwig gazing, almost unblinking at Fennekin's trouble. Soon, I heard a small yelp come from him.

"_Fenn...ekin…"_ it mumbled as it repositioned itself, ready to fight once again with Pineco. Ethan smiled and looked me straight in the eye through the lenses of his frames.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm very impressed by your Pokemon. It has a determination about it, a fighting spirit that I seem to lack. You're very lucky."

His voice was kind, but became lower as the sentence went on. He wore a smile, but I felt as though there was something else, like I was gazing at the shell to a lesser creature. I wanted to say something, but he derailed my train of thought with a command to his Pokemon.

"Alright Pineco, go for a Rapid Spin!"

"_Pine... Co… Pine.. Co.. Pine. Co. Pineco, Pineco, Pineco!"_ It was practically chanting as it began rotating in one spot, progressively gaining speed until it was like a small, green tornado. It leaped from the ground and spun towards Fennekin like a top that went mad. Fennekin needed no command and wasted no time. It leaped out of the way, causing the Bug-Type to get its bearings and aim again. It stopped right in front of me, wobbling in place with a dazed look in its eyes.

"_Pine...Co…"_ it muttered in a tone that sounded as if it were still spinning.

"Alright Fen, this is our chance! Hit him with one more good Tackle!"

Fennekin rushed back around to our side of the field between me and Pineco, and quickly charged itself into Pineco, causing the unbalanced Pokemon to fly back to the other side of the field, flat onto its back.

Pineco's red eyes were in swirls as it murmured quietly. Pineco had fainted in battle, meaning that it could no longer combat Fennekin. Ethan walked out onto the field and picked up his wounded Pokemon, carrying it back to him and placing him down at his feet.

"Thank you so much, buddy. Come on back now." Ethan said as he pulled Pineco's Pokeball from his belt. A beam of red light shot from the device to Pineco, enveloping him and bringing him back. He secured the ball onto his belt and pulled the other one, preparing it for release of what was inside.

"Alright, um…" He started with the ball in his hand, full size and ready to go. He stood there quietly, trying to figure something out, and I had a feeling I knew what.

"My name is Jude. Probably should have mentioned that earlier." I said in a laugh. He returned the humor.

"Hehe, alright then Jude. I hope you liked battling Pineco, because my next Pokemon is really going to show me what you're capable of."

I didn't know how much longer Fennekin would last. Pineco was an unexpectedly brutal fight, being that I didn't know how powerful a Pineco could be. Whatever Pokemon Ethan was going to send out next, I had to be ready for.

"Go, Ivysaur!"

The ball hit the ground, releasing the green, quadruped Pokemon. It was a shade of blue-green, much lighter than Pineco, and had a large bulb composed of choppy looking leaves on its back with a pink unbloomed flower growing from it, telling me that this Pokemon was easily a Grass-Type. I held up my Pokedex to the Pokemon for information.

_Ivysaur: The Seed Pokemon._

_The bulb on its back grows by drawing energy. It gives off an aroma when it is ready to bloom._

Relief went through me, as I still had the advantage in typing, but I also had it in speed. Considering the size of Ivysaur, Fennekin could easily dodge any attack that it could try.

"Alright Ivysaur, I know you can do this!" He shouted with a lack of aggression, but a strong determination to make up for it. "Use Stun Spore, up in the air, bud!"

Ivysaur's bud began shaking furiously, and the flower within bloomed only slightly, firing a cloud of yellow dust into the air, coming down all over the battle ground. Fennekin began sneezing much more than the average one-off. He also started shaking a little, which brought quick reality to the move he just used. Stun Spore.

"Now, use your Bullet Seed attack Ivysaur!"

I didn't understand why he would ask for a Grass-Type move against a Fire-Type Pokemon, but soon the power that Ethan's Pokemon had showed me exactly why. It positioned itself to a pose where its chin was to the ground, and its bulb could be seen right into. It began shaking again, like when its spore was released, but this time, it began firing green seed-like pellets that were only slightly larger than golf balls. Five were fired off, all hitting Fennekin, who was still weakened from the last battle.

"_Feeeen!"_ It howled as it took the blunt force of all shots fired in its face and chest. It then collapsed to the ground, lying on its stomach with legs spread out and tail down.

"_Iken…."_ It muttered as it laid.

"Man... " I said as I stared at Fennekin, then up to Ethan's Ivysaur. I was amazed, being that I always thought that with the type advantage system from the books couldn't be wrong.

"You did great. You deserve a rest, Fen."

I grabbed his Pokeball and returned him to it. I placed it back into my bag and pulled Geodude's ball. He was my only remaining Pokemon, so I had to send him out, despite the disadvantage. I threw the ball and out came the Rock-Type in the white light. He stared Ivysaur dead in the eyes before rolling backwards to me, giving me a similar glare. I was confused why he came over to me, until it hit me. Literally. He slammed his large hand right onto me foot, shooting pain all the way up my leg and a shiver through the rest of my body.

"**OW!** Geez, Geodude! What was that for?"

He didn't respond, only turning around to battle his actual opponent. I rubbed my foot and tried regathering myself.

"Oh man, Jude, are you okay?" Ethan asked from across the field with obvious worry in his voice.

"Hehe, uh… Yea, just a uh… fleshwound?" I said trying to play it off cool.

"Alright, but if it gets worse before this battle's over, I say we go get it taken care of, alright?" He responded, calming down. We both redirected our attention to the battle, both of our Pokemon ready, but Geodude impatient to fight. I connected with him, trying to make this a joint effort between us.

"Alright Geodude, Go at it with a Headbutt!"

Geodude turned around and glared at me in confusion. He either didn't understand what I meant or was just being rebellious. Either way, I needed to clear it up. I thought for a second before acting out what he had done in the forest. I pretended to lodge my fists into imaginary ground and lunged myself forward. He shot me a grin, and did as I did. Just like in the forest, he shot his arms easily into the tapered ground, and leaned back.

"Okay, Ivysaur! Meet Geodude halfway with a Take Down attack!"

Ivysaur kicked its back leg before charging right at Geodude with great speed, and with the increasing momentum, great power.

"Launch it, Geodude!" I shouted in panic, as I didn't want Geodude to lose dedication in what it was doing. He shot himself forward, sending dirt flying behind him onto my shoes as he flew right at Ivysaur. The two, with great power behind their attacks, collided at their heads. Geodude was sent flying into the air while Ivysaur stumbled backwards. Both cried out, Geodude's in surprise, while Ivysaur's sounded as if it were in pain, which wouldn't being surprising to me, being that I was at the blunt force of one of those attacks. It shook its head about as it collected its bearings, while Geodude spun uncontrollably in the air, making itself dizzy trying to spin itself straight. Taking the moment to think, I came up with a plan.

"Geodude!" I shouted with my hands cupped around my mouth. "Use this to your advantage! Rollout straight down, while Ivysaur is still in shock!"

Geodude heard me, and went along with it to an extent of reluctance. It began leaning forward, progressively building its momentum. Ethan noticed this and a surprised look appeared on his face.

"Ivysaur! Quick, fire your Bullet Seed straight into the air, break Geodudes pattern!"

Ivysaur, just gettings its carriage, began headedly shaking its bulb, opening the flower on its back and firing frantically into the air with the same green seeds as before. At this point, Geodude had begun its fall, rotating much faster than before, directly at Ivysaur. The Grass-Type was standing completely still with its eyes clenched shut, only focusing on firing its attack. While being fired at the speed they were travelling, it reaped no reward. The seeds bounced off of Geodude's body like they were nothing, knocking them to the ground around Ivysaur. It looked around frantically to see its attack had failed, only to be reintroduced to a blow to the head from Geodude, causing it to lose its stature again. Once Geodude had landed in front of the Pokemon, I knew it was our chance to finish this.

"Just one more hit, Geodude! Tackle!" I shouted with elation growing inside of me.

"_Geo…"_ It grunted as it took a hop backwards to gain some speed behind the attack.

"_DUDE!"_ it finished in a shout, slamming Ivysaur's snout, causing it to slide backwards across the dirt, making marks in the trail. It stumbled for a moment before collapsing on its chin, which raised its butt in the air. The Pokemon laid in unconsciousness as silence overtook the building, only to be broken by Alyssa's cheers over my victory. It scared the life out of me, being that I was so focused on the battle, I completely forgot that she was spectating. Ethan sat down on the field next to his Pokemon, wrapping his arm over it.

"Thank you so much, buddy. I get that two in a row isn't fun, but its our job. You're a really good Pokemon, you know?"

I picked up Geodude, who tolerated me holding him just this once as Alyssa and I made our way over to him as he returned Ivysaur to his Pokeball. He looked up to us and smiled as he stood, digging for something in his hoodie pocket.

"That was a really good match, Ethan." I said as I patted Geodude's head, only to stop myself after hearing its growls. "It's definitely a lot more exciting once you actually battle yourself instead of watching it on TV."

He chuckled as he pulled his clenched fist from his pocket, having found what he was searching for before.

"Since you won the battle, Jude, it's the rules that I give you the Sprout Badge. Congratulations!"

He held out the small pin from earlier, now shining brighter in the better light.

My hand was shaking as I took it from his hand. I was overjoyed that I had competed in my first battle against another trainer, that being a Gym Leader, and won. I started laughing as I stared at the pin with eyes shining as bright if not brighter than the pin itself. He held out his hand to shake mine, and I promptly returned the gesture. As we shook, a question came to mind about what he said during the battle.

"Oh, and hey, Ethan." I said with most of the emotion draining from my voice. He noticed and looked at me with eyes filled with concern and confusion. "What did you mean earlier that you _"lacked fighting spirit"_? Your Pokemon seem to say otherwise."

He looked at the ground with a small smile.

"Well, you just have that confident personality, very extroverted, to command your Pokemon with purpose that, honestly, I could be working on." He started quietly. "And, since you're asking, I do think you're very lucky to be that kind of person. You give off a vibe that makes people know they can be around you, and you get to travel the region spreading that vibe. It kind of makes me jealous."

At this point he was looking me in the eyes with a serious expression. I smiled to him, and tried giving him assurance.

"You shouldn't be. You have your Pokemon, who work with and appreciate everything you do, and what place is better than a home sweet home that wants you around?"

A smile broke across his face and he laughed with genuine happiness. His hands guided themselves over the Pokeballs on his belt.

"You are absolutely right, sir. I suppose that I really _don't_ have anything to complain about." He said with his voice destressing and a wide smile forming across his slender face. "Hey, before you go, do you want to heal up? There's a machine to do that right in the corner there." He said, pointing over to the device I noticed as we walked in.

"Yea, definitely. Then you can battle Alyssa here!"

Alyssa held up her hands and began waving them back and forth in front of her.

"Ha! Yea _right_! You're not throwing me into _that_ mess now! Some other time, maybe."

We all laughed as we made our way to the machine, with the light of the setting sun coming in through the windows of the building, relaxing the environment. I had just defeated my first Gym Leader, which was a huge step as a Pokemon Trainer. I was too excited to challenge the next gym. I ran down the road to the next town over as I said goodbye to Ethan and the old man, with Alyssa running not to far behind me in an attempt to keep up. As they waved, I could hear only the beginning of a conversation between them.

"You know, Grandpa, I have a good feeling about the three trainers that came through here today.

a small chuckle emitted from the old man as he placed his arm on Ethan's shoulder, saying to him "Well lad, one thing to remember is that they still have a _long_ way to go until they can _really_ call themselves trainers.


	4. Chapter 4: In the Spirit of Battle P1

Chapter 4: In the Spirit of Battle [Part 1]

The sun was growing dimmer as we walked the unpaved road that stretched for what felt like miles in the looming shade of the evergreens that lined each side of the road. The scenery ahead of us was clear, and it was a beautiful sight. The light of the sun was dim enough to look at, but bright enough to cast an aesthetic shadowing over the landscape. The wild Pokemon, ranging from Poochyenas to Beautiflies, made their ways into the trees, bushes and hovels for the night. Just ahead to the left I saw an opening in the shrubbery to a somewhat open plot for us to spend the night in. I turned to mention it to Alyssa, but she was transfixed on the magnificence of the area around her. I held my tongue until we were right next to it, then I nudged her in the arm to break her trance.

"Hey, it's getting kinda dark to be walking. We should probably stop here for the night, huh?" I said, waving my hand in the direction of the area. It wasn't massive, probably just big enough to fit us both, maybe a small tent. The center was composed of rough dirt and a couple of weeds surrounded by short grass, eventually leading out to the shrubbery of the road and deeper into the forest. She nodded, giving one last look at the sun before following me in. Turtwig leaped from her bag before she set it down to get her sleeping bag out. I had packed my bag over a day ago, so I didn't completely remember what I had inside. I opened it to see several clean pairs of clothes, a water bottle, toothbrush and toothpaste… But no sleeping bag. I started pulling things out hoping that I could find one shoved away in there somewhere, but no luck. I sighed at my defeat, which brought a humor about Alyssa. She giggled as she set hers down flat, a dark purple bag with a mahogany striped pattern decorated across it.

"You seriously didn't bring a sleeping bag? That's camping 101, Jude!" She said with pep in her voice. Being that I had to sleep on the ground, I couldn't match her tone.

"Well, at least I have the grass to cushion myself with." I said, staring at the ground, reluctant to lie down. In the shade of the trees and the still setting sun, it was too dark to try bolting to town to buy a bag quick, if I even brought money with me. I sat down, slowly lying myself to the ground on my back. I slipped my hands behind my head to act as a pillow. Alyssa had just gotten all cocooned in her sleeping bag as Turtwig climbed up on her lap, lying down to sleep itself. What did it really say about me that I had to sleep on the cold ground while a Pokemon slept on the comfort of people bedding? I sighed it off and closed my eyes, quickly drifting to sleep after a long day.

I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of something, maybe made of wood, being beat on, rustling the leaves above. I looked around with tired eyes, trying to find the source of the noise. After a brief moment of searching, I found it. Alyssa, standing not too far away from her sleeping bag, was looking at one of the trees near the road, but she was speaking out loud. I looked over to her sleeping bag to see that Turtwig was also gone. I continued to lie there motionless, because I wanted to know what was so important that she had to wake up in the middle of the night, but I didn't want her to know I was watching. I heard the impact again, and leaves rustled and fell from the top of the tree while sending a mild recoil of the impact into the shrubs, making a modest sound. I saw the shape of Turtwig in front of her, just in my line of sight. Now, being more awake, I could understand what she was saying.

"Alright, Turtwig. A few more times. Headbutt, go!"

"_Tur!"_

She was pointing her finger towards the tree, and spoke with passion in her voice. Was she seriously practicing battle in the middle of the night? Why not during the day, when it was easy to see? Why not at the gym to get a badge? I wasn't sure if she was afraid of defeat or just felt unprepared, but either way, I was trying to think on fumes. Soon, a much louder sound came from behind me, so I tried to casually roll over to see what it was, assuming it was some nocturnal Pokemon searching for a late night snack, only to be greeted by two large feet in black leather boots. I flinched hard, somehow avoiding his notice. He rushed down and swiped my bag, which made me jump up and try to grab it. In the process of this, Alyssa was shouting about his presence, and I tried to catch a glimpse of his face, only to fail in the darkness. He just looked like a large silhouette under the cover of the trees. The robber and I were playing a game of tug of war with my bag when Alyssa called a command for Turtwig.

"Turtwig! This is our chance! Headbutt, go!"

"_Turtwig!"_ he shouted as he charged at the robber, impacting at his shin. He let go of my bag screaming and hopping on one foot while holding his other.

"Good job! Now scare this creep off with a Razor Leaf attack!"

Turtwig began swinging its head around as the leaf atop its head began glowing a faint, green light, soon launching small, razor sharp leaves at the man. One grazed across his face to little effect, but caused him to run off, aiming to dodge the rest on his way out. He escaped from where he came in, just as he came in. Loudly, and in the dark. I lifted my bag, checking to make sure he didn't take Fennekin or Geodude. To my relief, he hadn't even opened the zipper in all of the chaos. I placed it back down, looking over to Alyssa, who was praising her Turtwig for a job well done. I was impressed with the offensive her Pokemon took, being that this was the only time I had seen them battle. I stood up, looking at the barely exhausted Pokemon, then back to Alyssa.

"Wow, I… Don't know what to say. That was awesome." I managed to stutter out in a mix of amazement and tiredness. He chuckled at my sleepy response, took off my beanie and tousled my hair.

"Thanks, Mr. Drowzee. Turtwig's no pushover, you know well."

I snatched my beanie back from her and refastened it to my head, trying to position it like it was before. She picked up Turtwig and patted him on his shell.

"He gave that guy what he deserved, trying to snatch up someone elses stuff. How greedy can people do that anyway?" She asked, changing her view back to me. I didn't know how to answer, so I changed the topic to what I had on my mind.

"You were practice battling just a minute ago. How long have you been up doing that?"

She blinked quickly as she processed my question, then by the expression on her face, it hit her.

"Wait, you were watching me!? Do you know how weird that it?" She said, almost embarrassed. "But… I never went to sleep. I pretended until I thought you were asleep, and then I got up with Turtwig and started practicing on the dummy I brought." She finished as she side stepped to reveal a small flour sack dummy with an angry, but cute face drawn on the front, with small sticks poking out of the sides. Looking around it, with my eyes now adjusted to the dark, I noticed small patches of flour on the ground near a tree, which was covered with a thin layer of flour about a foot and a half up the trunk. I didn't know what time we had gone to bed, but she had to have been up for another good few hours, considering that it was the dead of night. I placed my hand on her shoulder, feeling her body lightly shaking, like standing up was work by itself.

"Dude, you need to rest. You and Turtwig. I'll wake you up in the morning, okay?"

She looked at my hand, and then back to me. A tired smile appeared on her face as she mirrored me, placing her hand on my shoulder.

"_You_ wake _me_ up? Sure."

We both laughed and lied ourselves down back in our spots, Alyssa not even bothering to crawl underneath her sleeping bag. She must've been more worn out than I thought. She fell asleep right on the spot, Turtwig getting halfway over her side and falling asleep there, legs suspended over her stomach and back. The two had a strong feel of being two peas in a pod, and I was going to leave the thought at that. I didn't want to keep myself up thinking, so I closed my eyes, Pokeballs near to my chest, and dozed off, ready for tomorrow to come.

With the morning light shining into my closed eyelids, I clenched them to make it darker to sleep longer. In response to this, I heard a dissatisfied grunt above me, followed by a kick to my side, jerking me awake.

"Come on, Jude! I thought you said you would be the one waking _me_ up, remember?"

Her hands were at her hips, and she was giving me a disappointed glare while Turtwig sat in her satchel, completely oblivious to anything and everything as it watched a small flock of Pidgeys leaving a tree above, flying above the trees and into the sky. I leaned up, scratching my head as the Pokeballs I kept near my chest fell to my lap. I stored them in my backpack and stood up as I swung it over my shoulder.

"Alright, let's get this show on a roll!" I said, my readiness to continue forth taking over my morning sleepiness. I ran to the road, Alyssa walking behind me giving no attempt to run with me.

"It's about time. It's already eleven, Jude. Your lazy butt already wasted almost half the day!"

This stopped me in my tracks. Already eleven? I already had some catching up to do to find Cade, and sleeping in like that was only going to put me further behind in the race. I began jogging down the road, egging her on to follow at the same speed. After a heavy sigh, she kept pace with me. After ten straight minutes of jogging, we arrived to the entrance.. A moderately sized sign stood on the border between the flat road we were travelling and the downhill slope going into the town. It was a black, painted wood with elegant golden text across it, saying

"**Welcome To Tegried Town, Home of the the Feendis Family"**

I stood for a moment, unknowing why "the Feendis Family" was so important. I looked the name back and forth, but no bells rang in my head. I turned over to Alyssa, who wore a star struck look on her face. I looked at her, puzzled, until she turned back and answered my question before I could ask it.

"Do you seriously not know who the Feendis' are, Jude?" She asked me like I was five. "Out of everyone in Zatharia, They've got the most Poke under their belts." She continued as she began walking into town. I followed behind her, catching a view of the scenery. The houses looked much like the ones back home, looking stable and comfy. I could almost say it looked just like home, just on a bigger plot of land. Until I got all the way in. On the far end of town, there was an enormous mansion constructed with a very dark wood, elegantly built with ancient looking columns of pure, but painted stone. The windows were stained with the designs of various Dark-Type Pokemon, with what looked like fire stained behind the figures. There was a young woman standing outside by the main gate, looking to be, at most, twenty. She was wearing a traditional maids outfit with long dark hair falling down to the bottom of her back, with bangs cut straight across her forehead, right above her lavender eyes. Alyssa lead the way over to the large house, wanting a closer look. As we got right in front to the gate, the woman held her hand out to stop us.

"Please, do not come closer." She said in a fragile voice. Up close I noticed that she had bags under her eyes, like she had gone days, maybe even a week or so without sleep.

"Master Casper wishes for no visitors unless they have presented the Sprout Badge from Envia. If you do not possess it, please return…" She tried saying, but interrupted herself with a dragged out yawn. She shook her head a little to wake herself up, and finished. "If you do not possess it, please return once you do…"

Her eyes struggled to stay open, and she looked as if she were on the verge of collapsing. She was in much worse shape than I thought Alyssa was in the night prior. I pulled the plant shaped pin from my pocket and displayed it to her, receiving a nod in return.

"Thank..._yawn_... you sir… Please en… enter." She held up a key ring from her waistband holding three black keys on them. On the first key, she unlocked the large gate, causing it to open toward the mansion. I slowly walked through the gate with my eyes locked on the maid, hoping that she wouldn't pass out right there. When Alyssa tried to follow me, she was stopped by the maid once again.

"I'm very sorry, miss, but I have rules to..._yawn_... keep to. Do you have a Sprout Badge?"

Alyssa hung her head, shaking it as a non-verbal "no".

"Then you are going to have to stay… have to stay…" She tried saying, but her eyes slammed shut as she fell onto her knees, her skirt poofing up around her as Alyssa kneeled down to help. She looked over to me and shot me a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about it. Since I can't go in, I'll stay here and make sure she's okay." She said as she sat herself down next to the maid. I turned back around and made my way into the yard with the gate shutting behind me. Before I could take another step forward, I was stopped by Alyssa.

"Hold up! One more thing!" She said, pointing at me. "Once you're done, you _better_ tell me _every last detail_, you hear?"

I nodded to her and continued to the decorated face of the house with stainless steel knockers on both gargantuan doors. Before I could even touch them, the doors were opened to me by two equally tired looking butlers, which were shut behind me as soon as I had walked in.

The house was magnificent, but dimly lit. The floors were made of a dark porcelain tiling with fancy purple wallpaper stretching down every hallway. A white carpet went from the front door, up the stairs and down each hall up there, with a chandelier hanging directly above. A butler waved his hand at me, signaling me to follow him. After a brief walk, he waved me to a large, fancy door with lettering above the frame saying

"**Casper's Room"**.

I entered the room to see that it was a child's bedroom. A small twin bed with a light blue blanket with Pokeballs decorated on it sat in the immediate left corner, a small toy train set was assembled to the immediate right, and various Pokemon toys were scattered around the floor. The room was massive, but at the far end, a little boy was sitting and staring at me with cold eyes. It sent shivers up and down my spine, but I approached regardless. He was wearing a formal white shirt and a dark purple vest over it. He wore black dress pants and shoes, with his short, pitch black hair combed to the side and coated in product. His eyes were an interesting color of brown, making it almost look slightly red, like clay found in the soil. He was holding a purple balloon-like Pokemon with two strings, which I assumed were legs, and beady black eyes that stared right at me. Floating around him was a round Pokemon with light purple eyes and a point coming from the top of its head. It almost looked like someone had just thrown a sheet over it, but my attention quickly drew to the purple and yellow snake Pokemon that had perked up at the sight of me. They all looked right through my body and straight into my soul, but what caught me the most off guard was when the boy stood, causing all of his Pokemon to reposition themselves, and said to me a brief, but surprising sentence in a condescending voice.

"Why are you in my Gym, mister?"


	5. Chapter 5: In the Spirit of Battle P2

Chapter 5: In the Spirit of Battle [P.2]

My head tilted at the boys sentence. _His_ gym? He had to be, at the oldest, eight, Barely half the age to even be allowed _by law_ to get a Pokemon. I couldn't spot anything that made this kid special enough to brush off the police.

"What do you mean your gym? Where are your parents?" I asked, trying my hardest to mimic the tone my parents used when I was a kid. He looked at me, tightening his lip to give more of a visual of his discontent with my question.

"This is _my_ gym!" He yelled, stamping his foot on the ground, startling the snake Pokemon. "And Mother is upstairs, and Father is in a big city! My Father is a really, really, really important person, and don't you forget!" he continued in the same shout. I wanted to say something to have him quiet down, but I figured that would only make him fuss more. Before I could even move a finger, he clapped his hands twice. At the command of the clap, two butlers came in with large rolls of white tape and began setting the perimeter of a battlefield on the wooden floor. They were as fast as lighting, for they had completed the field in perfectly straight lines in what felt like seconds. They both bowed to Casper before leaving the room as quickly as they entered. He let go of the two string-like legs of the balloon Pokemon and sent it drifting forward.

"I want you to fight, Drifloon."

His voice was laced with condescendence, but the Pokemon gave absolutely no resistance to him. I pulled my Pokedex out to scan the Drifloon.

_Drifloon: The Balloon Pokemon._

_It tugs on the hands of children to steal them away. However, it gets pulled around instead._

I didn't know whether that was completely creepy, or completely depressing, but I couldn't think for very long before Casper started shouting again.

"Hurry up, mister! I want to fight your Pokemon NOW!"

I groaned at him as I pulled my Pokeball from my bag. How bratty could this kid be? I threw my Pokeball out to the field, it hitting the floor and bouncing back to me as I released Geodude to fight.

"Let's get him, Geodude! What better way to fight a balloon than with a rock, huh pal?" I said to Geodude, expecting a response, but only greeted by silence, making me realize that I was just talking to myself here. "Okay then, let's just do this." I said, implicitly admitting defeat to my Geodude. "Now, use your…" I started before being interrupted by Casper.

"Drifloon, use Astonish!" He demanded. The Pokemon rushed at Geodude, its eyes going from regular circles into wild shapes, much like TV static. Once it reached him, it quickly inflated and widened itself, causing Geodude to flinch and swing its arms wildly in an attempt to get Drifloon out of the way. Once it had moved away, Geodude was still in a daze, swinging wild punches into the air. I knew I needed to help him get his bearings somehow.

"Geodude, relax and concentrate!" I shouted, hoping it would do at least something. Geodude began shaking itself around, trying to get its grips back around reality.

"Drifloon! Focus Energy, and then Gust!"

"_Drif!"_ I heard as my eyes maintained on Geodude. I looked up to see the balloon Pokemon heavily inflate at a slower pace, but inflating much larger than before, with its eyes clenched shut as it collected air. Just as Geodude had caught itself, the Pokemon had fired the stored up air at Geodude, launching him back towards me with the air becoming visible in the impact, as well as itself backwards to Casper. Being taken by surprise, Geodude had a look in his eye that openly told that he couldn't even tell which way was up. Drifloon had returned to its original size and was floating motionlessly on the other side of the field.

"Come on, Geodude! I know you can do it! You can get up!" I said to him as I came down onto one knee.

"_Geo…"_ He said as he tried standing himself up on shaking arms, only to fall back down on his bottom and lay still.

"_Dude…"_ He muttered as his eyes swirled for a moment before closing. I pulled his Pokeball out to return him.

"Good job, pal. Take a rest now."

As I was putting the ball away, I saw Casper grabbing the Drifloon's strings and roughly pulling it back to him.

"I don't want to battle with Drifloon anymore. I want Shuppet to fight! Shuppet!"

The small, cloaked Pokemon, which had wandered to the far end of the room behind the young Gym Leader, flew over to the field, where it continued to float aimlessly about. I pulled my Pokedex out to scan Shuppet, trying to drown out the boys impatient stomping with my thoughts and the robotic voice of the Pokedex.

_Shuppet: The Puppet Pokemon._

_Shuppet is attracted by feelings of jealousy and vindictiveness. If someone develops strong feelings of vengeance, this Pokémon will appear in a swarm and line up beneath the eaves of that person's home._

This drew concern to me, now knowing that this Pokemon literally feeds off of hatred. After taking another look at it as it goofily floated around, I figured I had nothing to worry about. I was pulling Fennekin's Pokeball from my bag when Casper shouted out to me.

"You know mister, my Father says that this Pokemon is special." He bragged. "He said that he saw it floating around Envia Town's Gym, and he caught it, and he gave it to me with a shiny rock." He said as he dug through his vest pocket, digging up a multi colored stone and waving it around like a flag. After showing off for another couple of seconds, he shoved it back into the pocket and redirected his attention back to the field. The stone's appearance stuck to my mind, being that it was both elaborate and alluring. What was so special about that stone? I was going to ask, until he started barking more orders at me.

"Hurry up and send your Pokemon out! I want…" He started, but since he was really starting to test my patience, I cut him off, regardless of what his reaction might be.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Go, Fennekin!" I shouted over him as I released the small fox Pokemon. He sneezed a small flame, almost touching the floor. I flinched before it dissipated, and relieved when it did. The last thing I needed to do at this point was burn a mansion down.

"Shuppet, Screech at them!" the boy yelled, startling the distracted Pokemon. It puffed up its cheeks as it inhaled, releasing a terribly sharp sound at the exhale. It caused Fennekin to cringe and me to slap my hands over my ears. It the chaos, I heard Casper yell something over the screech through my covered ears.

"Shadow Sneak, Shuppet! I want to see Shadow Sneak!"

"_Shuppet!"_ The floating Pokemon responded. It circled about a loop in the air before disappearing into the floor. I looked harder in the area to see that it hadn't disappeared, rather it had become a shadow, speeding towards a still recovering Fennekin.

"Fen, you gotta move bud, quick!" I said, trying to get Fennekin's attention. By the time it had looked back to me, the Shuppet had shot from the floor like a bullet, hitting Fennekin right underneath the chin and sending him into the air. I gasped at it all, having it happened so quick, it took me by surprise. When Fennekin hit the floor with a loud thud, right on his head, I rushed over to make sure he was okay. Casper giggled at me. I shot him a glare, as if to implicitly ask what he was so happy about.

"Your Pokemon are weak, mister!" He said in a smug tone. I continued to glare at him, now a little more harshly, only to be replied to with a louder giggle. "You don't train your Pokemon! My Father paid for the best training ever, and you only beat the first gym because he didn't train either! He's the first gym leader for a reason!" He said to me, barely coming up for a breath. Fennekin couldn't battle anymore, considering the height he fell from. I was still amazed that a Pokemon could pack enough power to launch another Pokemon a good few feet into the air. I lifted Fennekin up in my arms, cradling him like a baby. As I made my way out, he continued to make fun of me, making a ruckus about how he didn't even need to use all of his Pokemon. The butlers from earlier escorted me from the mansion, and as I reentered the courtyard, I saw Alyssa through the gate, making conversation with the maid. She still looked drained, but she looked much better than before. Alyssa saw me, and knew something was wrong. She came to see Fennekin as soon as I was outside the mansion's property. The maid stood up to see as well, and the sight of my beaten Pokemon caused her hand to fly up to her mouth in a gasp. She stroked Fennekin across the face, causing him to rub up against the maid's hand. She let out a light sigh, and pointed us to the Pokemon Center.

Once my Pokemon had been healed, I sat down on a nearby couch, thinking about what Casper was telling me after the battle. No training, weak Pokemon. I didn't know what to think. He was just a kid, but he wasn't wrong. I hadn't trained my Pokemon much, and his were trained by the best of the best. Alyssa sat down next to me, leaning forward to see my face.

"C'mon, Jude. One loss isn't the end of the world. It's just incentive to try harder next time!"

I wanted to believe her, but this being my first real setback as a trainer, it hit a little harder than it should have. I didn't respond, and tried to think of what I could do. I closed my eyes and thought about how his Pokemon battled. How he had them battle. He was very straight-forward with his commands, practically all offensive. Maybe if I used a solid speed tactic for evasion as a base, I could have an advantage to prop myself up on. On top of this, both of my Pokemon now had an idea what to expect with his team. All of this planning was good, but I still needed a good offense to back up defense. I needed to train. I was soon drawn out of my thought by Turtwig nudging my arm with his head, concern gleaming in his eyes. I smiled at him and rubbed his head to tell him that I would be okay. I kept my eyes on Turtwig for another moment, and then an epiphany struck me like lighting. In the woods last night, Alyssa was training Turtwig on her practice dummy, and when it came time to battle, Turtwig packed a punch. I laughed a little, and then looked up to Alyssa, nodded, and stood up. She stood with me, following me out of the Pokemon Center.

"What is it, Jude? Do you have an idea?" She asked, completely curious as to where I was going.

"We need to find a rope or something. Anything that'll swing nice." I said in a very matter-of-fact way, forgetting that Alyssa hadn't been inside to see the battle. She looked at me with confusion and doubt, like I had gone nuts. I looked past her back to the mansion, and seeing the maid gave me an idea.

"Alyssa, could you maybe ask the maid if she could smuggle a rope out to us? Trust me, I have a plan." I said, pointing past her to the weary woman.

"Um… okay?" She replied as a question as she strolled over to the maid. They talked for a moment before the dark haired woman went through the gates and into the mansion. I smiled, relieved that she was okay doing this for us. After a minute or so passed, she came back out with a rope hidden under her apron. She handed it to Alyssa furtively and waved her off. She came back over to me, swinging it around on her wrist before tossing it to me.

"You're lucky that Mary and I got along quite nicely while you were battling about in that big ol'... wonderful… fancy…" She said, progressively talking at the house rather than at me. I snapped my fingers to draw her attention back.

"Right, sorry. It's just that, you can't say you're not amazed by a house that big compared to what we grew up with!"

I laughed and shook my head at this, motioning her back over to the forest. She followed me, and asked again what we were doing. I turned my head enough to see her as I walked.

"Oh, and we'll also need that dummy of yours."

Once in a clearing in the woods not too far from Tegried, I tied the rope tightly around the dummy, having Alyssa climb one of the nearby fruit trees and swing it around like a ghost. She was reluctant, but I was just as persistent. Eventually, after about three minutes of arguing it back and forth, she gave in and did as I asked. Turtwig watched her as she struggled up the trunk and inched across the sturdiest looking branch.

"Jude. Can I just say something real quick?" She asked through the leaves brushing up against her. I looked at her with an approving eye, and she made harsh eye contact for a brief moment.

"This is completely and utterly ridiculous."

I laughed a little as she started swinging the hanging dummy around. I sent both Fennekin and Geodude out at once, and the two, side by side, looked up at the dummy, confused as to what was going on. Fennekin let out a sneeze in Geodude's direction, making him scoot over a little, probably so he wouldn't get and snot or fire on him.

"Alright guys, I know we had a rough time battling those Pokemon at the gym." I started, already striking memories in their heads. "But that's why we're here. To win, we need to be quick and accurate, so I'll need you two to pretend that that dummy is Drifloon or Shuppet, okay?"

The two looked back over to the dummy, then turning back to me, telling me that they understood. I had Fennekin go first, holding Geodude back from intervening. Fennekin shot small flames at the swinging sack, missing several times. The energy from the swings of Alyssa's arms were also causing the branch to bounce, dropping a loose fruit to the ground. This gave me an idea.

"Alyssa! Could you throw fruit down at us, so we can get better reaction time?" I asked up to her through cupped hands. I was greeted by an apple hitting me square in the forehead.

"Sure thing. It'll be some good payback for you making me climb a tree and swing around a sack of flour like this."

We practiced all day. Rotating between Geodude and Fennekin, we directed attacks at the dummy and dodged the apples Alyssa was launching at us. We failed on multiple occasions, taking shots anywhere that could be hit on a body and damaging the forest, Fennekin almost accidentally burning it down. But as time progressed and as our bruises taught us lessons, we operated like clockwork. As the sun set on us, I looked at the two Pokemon standing together after a long day of training and smiled. I turned my sight to Alyssa, who was now just sitting in the tree, rubbing her sore arms from swinging the sack all day.

"Alright, Alyssa." I said to her. "I think that'll do it, You can come down now."

She looked at me and smiled as she threw the dummy right at me, hitting me in the chest and knocking me straight to the ground. She giggled and began inching her way back across the branch, only to be stopped by a cracking sound, followed by the crash of it and her falling to the ground. We both laid there as our Pokemon stared at us with confused stares. Once we had recovered, we ate most of the apples Alyssa had thrown before going back to town. Once we had arrived, the sun had almost fully set and the town was pitch black, except for the lights at the Feendis' Manor and the light from inside the Pokemon Center. We blindly walked with our hands in front of us to the Center for a quick heal-up before making our way to the mansion. Once at the gate, Mary had immediately opened it for me while Alyssa sat on the ground next to her. I was tired, but I put my exhaustion to the side to make room for the adrenaline running through my system. I made my way back to the room, opening the door without even the thought of knocking. Casper was sitting on the floor in pitch black pajamas that looked as elegant as his clothes from earlier, but multiple times more comfortable. His Pokemon were all wide awake as well, all using toys that were lying around the floor for their own amusement. Once they saw me, they ceased what they were doing and moved with Casper as he made his way a little closer to me.

"So, my maid let you in for another butt-kicking?" He said snobbishly. I laughed it off, and quipped back.

"Yeah, she did. This time, it's your turn to get a good butt-kicking." I pulled one of my Pokeballs from my bag, unknowing of whose it was. He tugged on Drifloon's strings, pulling it to the middle of the room to battle without even caring if it wanted to or not. The moment he opened his mouth to say something, I threw the ball out, releasing Fennekin to the room. He sneezed up in the air, attempting to use it as a taunt, but it was too adorable to even consider it as something aggressive. Casper laughed to himself and swung his arms vertically in my direction.

"Drifloon! Astonish, now!" He ordered. The balloon Pokemon came at Fennekin like it did Geodude, flattening itself and wilding its eyes.

"Fennekin, you know what to do, buddy! Dodge and Ember!" I called. Before I even finished my sentence, Fennekin leaped out of the way quickly, propelling the small fire at its opponent. Drifloon reacted harshly to the attack, visible shivers bolting across its body, causing it to back up and recompose itself.

"Alright Fennekin, keep on pushing! I know you can do it!" I motivated. Fennekin began running towards the Pokemon, leaping into the air to meet level with it and fired another Ember attack. The bombardment of attack on Drifloon drove it backwards to Casper, unable to retaliate in the chaos. Soon, after sloppily floating about for a moment, trying to recapture its composure, it floated to the ground as a balloon that lost its helium would. Casper started trembling in anger as he picked up Drifloon and placed it behind him. He nudged the snake Pokemon that had slithered around his legs with his foot and pointed to the field, stopping his arm abruptly as it became straight.

"I want you to fight Ekans, now!" He said to it in a harsh tone.

"_Ekans!"_ It replied, quickly slithering out to the field, coiling and standing itself up once it had reached a spot a few feet away from where Fennekin had backed up to. I pulled my Pokedex for the information this Pokemon could provide.

_Ekans: The Snake Pokemon._

_It can freely detach its jaw to swallow large prey whole. It can become too heavy to move, however._

I stared at the Pokemon for a moment before the familiar blurting came out of Casper.

"Ekans! Wrap!"

The Pokemon sprung at Fennekin, coming at him from the air. He quickly evaded, but Ekans was persistent. They dodged each other around the field for a short time before Fennekin caught its foot on a toy train that had found its way away from the assembled set, making him a sitting duck for capture. The snake Pokemon tied itself around Fennekin's small body and began squeezing tightly. Fennekin let out howls of discontent, struggling to get out of the bind. I watched helplessly as Fennekin struggled in the tensing body of his opponent. He let out small Embers to attempt to scare it away, but to no avail. Regardless of the lack of success in this tactic, he kept doing it. Soon, he began flailing faster and more harshly, the fires it was releasing growing bigger as Ekans continued to squeeze the life out of Fennekin. Soon, Fennekin's flames began having an effect on his body. The fire grew across Fennekin, coating him in flames. Soon, the Ekans released with a burned underside, fleeing backwards to get away. Still covered in the flame, Fennekin quickly pivoted itself around and charged at Ekans, making an impact with its head to the snake's neck. It fell onto its back, unable to continue battle. Casper grew even more impatient with the situation, telling Shuppet to get into the fight as he placed Ekans where Drifloon was laid. The Ghost-Type Pokemon floated to the field, a determined look in its eye. Fennekin's body flame was gone, and he was now trying to catch his breath. I couldn't even begin to imagine the strain that put on his body.

"Shuppet, Shadow Sneak! Now!"

"_Shup!"_ It quipped as it plunged itself into the floor, becoming a shadow again in the now darker room, being it nightime. Both Fennekin and I lost track of it quickly. My eyes darted around the room, soon to see the point of Shuppet's head begin to rise from the floor to Fennekin's right.

"Fen, watch out!" I shouted. Shuppet had begun charging at him, barely missing and shooting right into the air. This was one of the few opportunities that we'd get to attack.

"Fennekin, quick! Flame Charge, right into the air!" I said as Casper ordered his Pokemon at the same time.

"Shuppet! Shadow Ball!"

"Shadow Ball?" I questioned. "That seems like way too powerful of a move for Shuppet to know! What's up?"

"It's called a TM, mister." He snobbishly said to me as if I didn't know what a TM was. I had read about them in my books back home. A TM. A Technical Machine, designed to teach Pokemon compatible moves through a special kind of disc. I turned myself back to the battle to see Shuppet forming a ball of dark purple and black energy by its mouth, about the size of a basketball while Fennekin engulfed itself in flames and leaped into the air, intercepting the cloaked Pokemon's attack. After a moment of the forces colliding, Shuppet's Shadow Ball broke the concentration of Fennekin's flames, slamming him in his snout with the energy that was originally exerted, along with the energy that was pent up holding it in one spot. Fennekin hit the floor on his side, sliding for a little before falling unconscious.

"You did awesome, Fen. Thank you." I praised as I returned him to his Pokeball, pulling Geodude's out as I put Fennekin's away. I threw the ball out, releasing the Rock-Type to finish what Fennekin started.

"Shuppet, Shadow Sneak!" Casper commanded again. The Shuppet did as it did before, and went into the floor. Before I even thought about where it would come up, I wanted Geodude to be ready.

"Geodude, Defense Curl, go for it!"

"Geo!" he responded as he crossed its arms in across his face, tightening itself and hardening its already rock-hard exterior. Shuppet came up from behind Geodude, attempting to knock him off of the ground. With the hardened skin Geodude had, Shuppet bounced off, floating backwards, soon getting in front of him to ready another attack.

"Hex, Shuppet. Hex!"

It floated itself higher into the air, forming three purely purple flames around it, which began gyrating around the Ghost-Type Pokemon with building speed.

"_Shuppet!"_ It exclaimed as it launched the attack forward at a near blinding speed. Geodude attempted to roll out of the way as we trained, except not fast enough. The attack struck him at the lower portion of his back, knocking him forward into the air, but only slightly. The Ghost Pokemon tried to take this chance to go in for another Shadow Sneak, but was stopped by Casper.

"Wait, Shuppet! What are you doing? I didn't tell you to attack yet!" He shouted over selfishly. "Wait for me next time!"

Shuppet turned around, giving his trainer a confused look as Geodude got its bearings. This was our chance now, being that Casper was selfish enough to take away his.

"Okay Geodude, it's our go! Get some air, and go for a Rollout!" I said elated.

Geodude slammed his arms onto the wooden floor, getting itself into the air and began spinning. It bounced itself slightly on the floor a few times before bolting forward. In its roll, it did one last bounce, high enough to slam into Shuppet's back. The Pokemon flew in the young Gym Leader's direction, spinning furiously in the air. With no command, it charged and launched one last Shadow Ball, luckily for it, flying in our direction. Geodude, still slowing down from its attack, took the full force of the blast, knocking it backwards as well. Once back on its side of the field, Shuppet lowered itself until it was sitting on the floor, dizzily looking about, and Geodude was trying to stay up and fighting as well. Now, it was a contest of willpower. After an anxious few seconds, Shuppet flopped forward, unable to battle. Casper stared in utter amazement. I jumped in the air with excitement, knowing that after a long fought battle, it wasn't in vain. I picked up Geodude and spun him around on my heel before holding him up on my shoulder. I walked over to Casper, who was still looking at his unconscious Pokemon.

"It's not _fair_." He started in a pouty tone. "My Pokemon were disobedient and didn't stay awake while _yours_ listened to you." He sat down on the floor with his legs crossed and upsettingly crossed his arms. "I want your Pokemon. Give me your Pokemon, mister!" He said, glaring right through me. I was stunned he'd even _think_ I'd give him my Pokemon.

"No! Your Pokemon are great, kid! They worked _really_ hard during that fight! I'm not giving you mine!"

This made him even poutier. "Fine. No badge for _you_ then!" That was a breaking point for me. After all that, he wouldn't give me my badge? I was about ready to scream at this kid when the door behind me opened. I turned around to see a woman in an elegant black dress with red accents decorating it. Her black hair was long, falling straight down to her ankles.

"I'm sorry boys, but I heard the commotion. Sir, could you come out in the hall for a moment?" She said calmly as she signaled me over with her finger. I went out in the hall, purging all desire to yell at Casper. She closed the door behind us and pulled a small pin made of a dark purple gem in the shape of a chubby, round ghost with a small tail at the bottom. "I'm very sorry about my son. He's not used to being a Gym Leader yet, being that his Father only gave him the title two weeks ago. You won fairly, so, on Casper's behalf, I present to you the Specter Badge!

I took it from her, gazing at it for a moment before putting it in my pocket with the Sprout Badge from Envia. She giggled, and then pointed at my pocket. "Young man, you understand those are pins, don't you?" I blinked in processing and took them both out to see little needles on the backs of them. I laughed and pinned them to my shirt next to each other. She nodded and a butler escorted me back to the gate, where Alyssa and Mary still sat. In the light of the mansion, the pins shone, telling them both I had won.

"Jude! You won! That's great!" Alyssa said excitedly, but tiredly. Looking at the two sitting down against the fence made me realize how late it was, and how tired I was becoming. I sat down on the other side of Mary, and leaned back. Before we knew it, we had all fallen asleep right there, not really caring about beds. It especially didn't matter to me, being that I never had a bed out here to start.


	6. Chapter 6: The Gravity of Things

Chapter Six: The Gravity of Things

The sun rose mildly on the town as Alyssa and I waved goodbye to Mary. Before we made it far, she had ran up behind us, shouting for us to wait. We turned to see her carrying something in her hand. It was a moderately sized piece of paper, rolled up and tied with a golden piece of string that mildly gleamed in the sunrise.

"I believe it would be best if you took this." She said as she handed us the paper. I untied the string and unraveled it to see a detailed map of the region, much like the one Cade had at the beginning of our journey. "The roads ahead split in many directions, and I'd hate for you two to get lost out there." She said, breaking me away from the map. I rolled the map back up and tied it as best as I could. I swung my backpack over my shoulder and slid it in as we left town. The trees on the path were different that the ones in the Envia's woods. They were shorter, but their leaves branched out much broader, and collided with one another. They were all fairly close to one another, clearly fighting for nutrients indicated by the health of the leaves above. They varied in color, some trees bearing all green, some bearing a mix of alive and dying leaves, and some that were attempting to grow new ones to replace the leaves that had already fallen to the dirt path below. The clouds were gathering, floating high above in large, gentle masses across the sky. The wind gave a nice breeze, keeping us at a comfortable temperature. It was oddly calm, but it absolutely wasn't something to fret over.

"Today is just perfect." Alyssa said, speaking exactly what I was thinking. "I bet you're enjoying the weather too, huh Turtwig?" She asked the Grass-Type.

"Turtwig!" It giddily replied as it climbed a little out of her satchel and hung its front legs from the bag. I decided to follow her lead and let Fennekin and Geodude come out to enjoy the weather as well. Once released, Fennekin walked alongside me while Geodude stayed snug in my backpack, hopefully not crushing the map. I reached back just to be sure. Once I had it in my hands I figured, other than a few crinkles, it was fine. Later along the road, we stumbled across a small area that held bushes of Oran Berries. While they were usually eaten by Pokemon, we did forget to grab some breakfast back at Tegried. We stopped and sat ourselves down in the clearing, picking the enjoyably ripe berries with our Pokemon. They were delicious, bearing a satisfyingly sour tang to them, which was argued. Alyssa was debating that they were sweeter than what I was describing while the three Pokemon just watched and laughed at us silly humans arguing over what a food tasted like. We laughed the argument off and just gazed at the sky. It was relaxing, like we had become kids again and were back home. I couldn't help but to smile at those memories. Along with the memories brought back the times when Cade and I ran around town pretending to be professional trainers, but one time in particular came to mind. Alyssa had just moved to town, and out of instinct we played on her lawn as well as ours, being that we were accustom to nobody living there. Now that it had come back to mind, it felt like yesterday.

It was the middle of the day, and the sun shone directly above us. My parents were over on Cade's porch, having a "grown-up talk". We ran around the town, the grass still covered in dew from the previous night's rain, shouting and making fighting noises like we were battling with Pokemon, Cade being more controlled with it that me. I was wearing a bright green shirt with a Snivy design on it and red shorts, while Cade had on his favorite blue t-shirt with a Great Ball printed on it and dark blue shorts with pockets on the sides of the legs. While no one else could see it, the battle was more intense than anything in the world.

"Dragonite! Attack his Pokemon with a fireball!" Cade shouted as he leaped into the air, pointing directly at me.

"Oh yeah?" I replied. "Dodge it Gengar, and hit his Pokemon with your big, round belly!" I said as I flailed my arms forward in sloppy punches. We went back and forth like this for however long, both his "Dragonite" and my "Gengar" dodging and countering each and every attack the opposing Pokemon made. Eventually it stopped sounding like a battle, as it came to a point where we were just shouting our Pokemon's names. In our oblivious fantasy world, we were unaware of the impending attack from above.

"Soak attack!" the high pitched voice yelled down to us. We turned around to be greeted by water balloons raining down from the window above. By the time the bombardment ended, Cade and I were drenched from our heads to our waists. We looked to see where it came from, and what we saw confused us both. It was a girl. Her blonde hair was very short and kept close to her head. It was styled it a way that made the single bang hang over her forehead, but wing out once it reached the tip. She was laughing, and I couldn't help but to laugh too. Watching someone else laugh could bring a smile to anyone's face, maybe even Cade's. He smiled, readying a laugh, when his Dad, dressed in formal wear with a nice khaki jacket over it, came over and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Okay, son. I'm done talking with Jude's parents, so you… you know where we have to go." He said in a deep, melancholy voice. The joy was taken away from Cade's eyes faster than the blonde girl's water attack. He looked at the ground, bringing a silence about all of us. He drooped his hands into his shorts pockets and sighed lightly.

"I'm sorry, Dad… I got playing with Jude and forgot… I'll dry off and be right back out." he said as he made his way home. His Dad looked at me, and then to the girl upstairs.

"I'm sorry to put a bummer on your kid's playtime, but this is very important." He said in an apologetic tone. This wasn't an unfamiliar situation. Starting about three years ago from the day, Cade and his Dad would always take a trip out of town, and it always made them both sad. The girl had come outside and stood next to me and watched Cade's Dad as he waited. She was wearing a white sleeveless shirt with Cherubi and Cherrim designs decorating the whole thing and black shorts that hung over her knees. As quickly as Cade had went in, he came back out, dressed in a little suit, his eyes still gazing at the ground. His Dad wrapped his arm around the upset boy as they both walked from town. I unhappily watched them go, my arms heavy in their sockets. The girl looked over to me and grabbed my hand. Shivers shot down my spine instantly, and before I could jerk away, she started swaying both of our arms back and forth.

"Don't be sad. We were happy a minute ago, so what's different?" She asked, completely unknowing of the situation. At the time, I barely had any answers either.

"Cade was sad." I responded glumly. "When Cade is sad, I get sad, because we're like brothers, and brothers need to feel the same so they can still feel like brothers." My eyes drifted to the ground like Cade's had. In my sadness, I had forgotten that the girl had held my hand, and embarrassment struck me like a train. I yanked my hand away, pulling her off balance.

"Hey! What was that for?!" She demanded.

"You were touching my hand!" I snapped back. "You're a girl! You have cooties!" She rolled her eyes at this remark.

"Don't be a big baby… um…" She started, shortly stopping as she widened her eyes and stared at me.

"My name is Jude." I told her, my face still flushed red. She rustled my long hair, making me back up a little more.

"Okay then, don't be a big baby, Jude!" She completed. "So, do you know where your friend and his Daddy went?" She asked, completely changing her tone to sound more formal.

"No…" I said instantaneously. "He doesn't like talking about it."

She stood thinking for a minute, trying to look like a philosopher. Soon after, she snapped her fingers and pulled me to the entrance of town.

"C'mon, Jude! He won't need to talk about it if we know about it! Let's go!" She said, her voice littered with excitement. I resisted her tugging, but she was practically pulling me along.

"But, but what about my parents? What about your parents? Won't they be upset we left without telling them?"

She stopped, letting me go and turning around to face me.

"You've got a point there... " She said to my relief. I was about to head home when she shouted so loud, I thought my eardrum would burst.

"Mom! Mom!" She shouted at the still open window. "Yes, honey?" A much quieter voice returned. "Me and a new friend are going to go for a walk, okay?" She questioned back to the voice, her hands now cupped over her mouth, making her even louder than before. At this point my hands had completely covered my ears. Her response was muffled to me, but it sounded approving of what the girl wanted to do. She giggled with glee, grabbed my arm again and jerked me out of town. My parents were watching us from our front yard to my shame. They were smiling at us, probably because this was the beginning of a new friendship, but I was too embarassed that she was a girl to come to the same realization. As she forced me to run the same way Cade and his Dad had gone and said one last thing before letting me go to run by myself.

"Oh, and my name is Alyssa, thanks for asking."

We walked for at least half an hour, flinching at every Zigzagoon that ran across the muddy path. Our legs were killing us, like someone had replaced our bones with lead. We decided to sit down against a large tree in the wet grass, providing some shade to us while we used the grass on our legs to cool ourselves down. Alyssa leaned back against the tree, her eyes closed and her body completely still for a change. I looked at her wondering how she could fall asleep that quickly. Not wanting to have to wait for her to wake up, I picked up a nearby stick and began poking her with it. Her eyes opened a little, and after a moment of looking around, she bolted up.

"Jude, look! Footprints! We have a clue!" She shouted as she pointed at the steps with her right hand and slammed a fist into my chest with her left. She got up and walked over to the steps while I held my hand against the new bruise. The steps had to be Cade's. They were small and smooth, like dress shoes, and there were large prints accompanying them in a similar fashion. The odd part was that the steps led to nowhere. There was a large tree branch in the way, so I figured there was no way that it could lead anywhere. Alyssa looked around the entire scene with high energy, barely stopping for a moment, even though she was complaining about sore legs a minute ago. I stood back and looked at the branch in particular. Gazing under it I saw a yellow flower attempting to bloom in darkness. I went to the branch and lifted it up to see the flower better, but I found something that peaked our interest much higher. An entire path was hidden away from the main road, going uphill into a heavily shaded area. On the ground were several unbloomed flowers, and the continuation of the pair of steps lead as far as we could see. Alyssa came over to stare in with me, and soon we both cautiously entered the way, unknowing of what we would find.

In the dark, Alyssa had kept close to me, holding the back of my shirt with both of her hands. While I would usually try to keep her away from me, I needed the comfort in the dark too from the ghost stories Cade would tell me. The moment we saw the light at the end of the road, we both made a break for it. Once outside, we were greeted by a beautiful scene. The land was circular, and thriving with various flowers and trees. The grass was lush, and it was the cleanest air I had ever breathed. All of the scenery blew me away, until one thing caught my eye. Cade and his Dad were standing in the center, staring only at one spot. They stood on each side of a beautifully carved stone that stood from the ground with a plain white sphere in front of it. The stone was shaped to be elegant, having graceful curves at the edges and decorated with the carvings of vines and flowers, much like where we were. Cade's Dad reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out a gorgeous orb, displaying a collaborating mix of pink and turquoise, and placed it in front of the stone, replacing the boring white sphere. Cade only stood there, motionless, transfixed on the stone. Another moment passed, and Cade's Dad pulled two other things from pockets in his coat. The first was from a pocket on the inside of his jacket. It was a white banner, with a logo on it displaying a light purple shape that looked like a circle with curved spikes jutting from it, much like if a Sandslash had rolled up into a ball, with a white square "G" held inside. The second being a plain black lighter. He draped the banner over the stone and created a flame from the lighter. Once he set flame to the cloth, I didn't understand anymore. Was this a ritual or something? Why would they destroy something in a place full of life? Alyssa and I were standing in the wide open, but they hadn't noticed us yet. As they began turning around, we ran for a hiding spot in between the forested path we just walked and a large tree directly next to where we came from. Cade only stood by the stone, having to be pulled by his father to leave.

"I'm… I'm sorry I couldn't… couldn't do anything…" He said through tears. His Dad took him by the shoulder and the two walked back down the path together. As soon as we were sure they were gone, we went over to see the stone out of curiosity. By the time we had gotten there, the banner had been burnt to a crisp, now dissolving from a large charred mass into ashes to be taken by the wind. Enough had fallen away that we could see that there was text on the rock.

**Here lies Analiese Hamridge: Loving Wife and Mother.**

"**When a light goes out, it should not be mourned. It should be remembered."**

This took the breath from my lungs. This was Cade's mother. I couldn't break my gaze from the stone. Cade's Dad had always told me that she had gone away on an important trip. That she would be back, someday. All of the emotion slipped from me to Alyssa's notice; All emotion, except a bitter mix of confusion and sadness. When she was around, she would say that Cade and I were like brothers… Always looking out for each other. Always telling each other the truth. In the several memories of her that I went through, the last conversation I heard her voice in was when she left town. It was around nine o'clock in the morning, and she was dressed very formally, wearing a black suit-like dress with a purple ascot tied around the collar of her shirt. Her hair hung loosely, but smoothly down her back as she knelt down to speak with Cade with his Dad behind her.

"Honey…" She began weakly. "Mommy's going away, and she doesn't know if… when she'll be back." She trailed off, intently looking Cade in the eyes. As I was watching from my bedroom window, I couldn't see Cade's face, but I was sure he didn't understand what she meant, because neither did I, at the time. In her hand, there was a briefcase made of a dark leather with a silver handle that she held with both hands with a firm grip, making her knuckles white. She dropped the case with a thud and embraced Cade who, probably due to being taken by surprise, didn't return the hug before she let go. Small tears formed in her eyes as she stood up, turning around and kissing his Dad goodbye. She picked up the case and quickly left for the exit of the town, a small piece of stiff paper slipping out of one of the side and landing in the grass by Cade. He picked it up, seeing the purple insignia with the "G" in it and nothing else. He looked back up to see that his Mom was nearly out of sight over the horizon. His mouth didn't move, but his faced screamed his anguish. He clearly didn't want his mother to leave, but there was no control that he had over the situation. He fell to the ground on his bottom, staring at the exit of town, motionless. His father closed his eyes, as if in pain, and went inside, slamming the door behind him.

I remember trying to talk to Cade, but it was as if I was talking to a locked door. He was closed off from contact. All he did for the next few days was sit in the spot, staring at the exit, and staring at the card, with his Dad coming out to sit with him for meals. I knew as well as him after a week of her absence, that whoever's insignia it was on that card had very important business, and she would be gone a while. Once he was moving again, he wasn't the same for a while. He was quieter, and had a lowly atmosphere about him. Every day, when I tried asking what was wrong, he would look at the card. He never let that card out of his possession. As I took one last look at the card, I could hear my name being called distantly, but it got louder, and suddenly it became extremely bright in my eyes. My eyes adjusted to the light, and soon Alyssa appeared right above me.

"Hey, come back to Earth, Jude!" She said, waving her hand over me, still lying down. I sat up and looked around to see everything I knew now. Geodude and Turtwig were playing Keep-Away with an Oran Berry with Fennekin, and the sun was still at a mild glow. I shook off the memories and stood completely up, catching the attention of the Pokemon. In their break, Fennekin snatched the berry from Geodude's hand and ate it, bringing humor to the air. I smiled and laughed with everyone else, forgetting for a moment what I was upset about a moment ago. We collected our things and walked the rest of the path until the road turned from a rocky dirt road into a paved sidewalk. The new path was varying stones of white and light grey, cut asymmetrically and sealed to the ground in a simple pattern, leading to a sign that was as large as Tegried's, but not as elegant.

_**Welcome to Falust Town! Enjoy your stay!**_

Disregarding that the sign sounded more like an advertisement for a hotel, we took in the amazing architecture of the town. The buildings were cube-like, with stone barriers at the roofs, which appeared to have patio spaces incorporated into them, some having wicker couches and others with clotheslines. There were various staircases that lead to a higher path, which looked like small bridges, patterned the same as the sidewalk with stone guard-barriers on the sides so nobody could fall off. There were a number of people of all ages walking around. Some were adults walking with their children, most of the small families walking by had some kind of bag from one of the establishments in the town, immediately to our right was an elderly woman sitting on a bench, throwing birdseed to the ground for the Pidove's, and even children playing with various small Pokemon such as Nidorans and Bidoofs with their parents supervising them. The town was a comfortably level of busyness, where they weren't slacking off, but they weren't rushing around. It was almost as nice as Envia's, but before I could go too deep into comparison, A loud sound emitted from down the street, startling everyone and causing parents to take their children indoors, whether it was their homes or a nearby store. Alyssa and I exchanged glances before rushing to the noise, My Pokeball in hand and Turtwig ready to leap from the bag when the time came.

As we arrived to the corner where the sound came from in a sprint, the sight was shocking. A policeman was unconscious against the wall of what appeared to be the town hall, which was larger than the rest of the buildings, also bearing a brownish color in comparison to the greys of everything else, and statues of Rhyhorn's at both sides of the staircase to the main door. The wall that the officer was leaning against, drool inching out of his hanging mouth, was practically a shattered crater behind him, with various pieces of brick lying on the ground around him. Two men stood in front of the guard, laughing at the sight. They both had light purple hair, and they wore white pants, combat boots, and coats with futuristic shoulder pads on their left shoulders that were in a cylindrical shape, with grooves that emitted a dim, but noticeable, purple light. Next to the one closest to us stood a large blue creature standing on two legs, with large yellow lips and big teeth, along with large protruding ears that were in a circular shape. Out of curious instinct, I pulled my Pokedex to get the information of the new Pokemon.

_Loudred: The Big Voice Pokemon._

_Loudred's bellowing can completely decimate a wood-frame house. It uses its voice to punish its foes. This Pokemon's round ears serve as loudspeakers._

"_Loud!"_ The Pokemon shouted, more than likely hearing my Pokedex speaking, drawing the attention of both of the men towards me. The one closer to the Loudred had piercing blue eyes and pale skin, his hair a medium length, pushed back and shaved on the sides, while his partner had a more tanned skin and dull brown eyes, his hair cut in a bowl shape and a small goatee right under his bottom lip. What caught my attention the most was the image on the right sides of their coats. Both held a logo that was a round shape with curved spikes jutting from it, with a white "G" in the center. It was the logo that I remembered. The logo from Cade's card.

"Hey!" I shouted. "What did you two make your Pokemon do to that officer?" I questioned demandingly, needing an answer to why they were doing this. Turtwig was growling, and I kept a straight face through the brief stare-down, wanting an explanation to what was going on.

"Get lost, kids. Shouldn't your parents have taken you inside?" The tanned one growled at Alyssa and I in a scratchy voice. The pale one laughed, and the Loudred laughed with him. "Yeah!" He retorted at us with a nasally voice. "This is grown-up business, so why don't you just crawl back into whatever hole you came from?"

"_Funny. I was about to say the exact same thing."_

A familiar voice behind us said with a harsh determination. Alyssa and I snapped around to see Cade, standing confidently with a Pokeball in one hand and a crushed piece of paper in the other. His eyes burned like a flame as he looked down the two grunts. They gave one another looks before laughing hysterically, which caused Cade's eyes to flare and his teeth to grit.

"So you're some kind of wise-guy, huh kid? Well, we'll show you how cocky punks like you are handled!" The tanned was practically shouted as he withdrew a Pokeball from a compartment on the side of his shoulder pad, throwing it into the air soon after. The ball opened mid-air, sending a beam of light to the ground, soon developing into a deer-like Pokemon, with antlers that unsettlingly looked like two giant eyes, but was slightly amusing with its bulbous nose. Still having my Pokedex out, I held it for a quick scan.

_Stantler: The Big Horn Pokemon._

_The curved antlers subtly change the flow of air to create a strange space where reality is distorted._

Cade had pushed past me before the Pokedex even finished its sentence, readying a Pokeball for a release from a Ball Belt, much like Gym Leader Ethan's, which held two other Pokeballs as well as the one in his hand. "Go, Croconaw!" He said, the ball firing the beam of light without leaving his hand. Once the light dissipated, It revealed a large blue and yellow crocodile-like Pokemon that bore red spikes atop its head, down its back, and on the end of its tail. Its jaw was large, with sharp teeth jutting past its lip on the bottom. I could only come to the conclusion that this was what Cade's Totodile had evolved into. I was unsure how it had already evolved, but it looked much more menacing, and I wasn't about to question it. Without hesitation, I released Fennekin to help Croconaw. Once released, it hopped to stand aside the Water-Type, only to sneeze, causing the two men to laugh even harder than before, underestimating my Pokemon. Cade was unphased by it all, coughing intentionally to get their attention back as Turtwig hopped from Alyssa's satchel to help. The three stood in a line, Croconaw in the middle with Fennekin to his right and Turtwig to his left, facing off against their angry looking Pokemon.

"Here's the plan." Cade said in a matter-of-fact fashion. "Croconaw will take Loudred, and since your Pokemon aren't evolved yet, they'll work together to take down Stantler. Is that clear?"

We nodded, almost fearful of his seriousness about this. The paper grew more crumpled as he tightened his grip on it, making the first move in the evacuated street.

"Croconaw, get in there with Bite!" He called. The Pokemon used a Water-Type attack to propel itself forward more quickly, somersaulting forward in the air, and slamming its jaw down on Loudred's arm. The Pokemon screamed in pain, which quickly caught the attention of the pale man. "What are you doing?!" He shouted. "Get that thing off of you!" The Loudred began bellowing extraordinarily loud sound-based attacks from its mouth in an unorganized fashion, more than likely due to the mental focus on the gorging pain it felt. Landing some attacks, Croconaw recovered as quickly as it could, continuously attempting to latch onto the enemy with its razor sharp teeth. While that happened on the edge of the street, nearer to the stairs, the tanned one gave Stantler a command that was unheard by Alyssa and I over Loudred's attacks, but was, unfortunately, heard by Stantler. It ran towards our Pokemon at a quick speed before halting in front of them and kicking its front legs into the air, quickly bringing them back down to crush Fennekin and Turtwig.

"Dodge it, quick!" We shouted in unison, both of our Pokemon dodging in opposite directions. The Stantler swung its head low to the ground, trying to hit them with its large horns. "Fennekin!" I shouted out. "Get some distance, then go at him with a Flame Charge!" He understood, backing off across the street, drawing the deer Pokemon's attention to it, leaving Turtwig available to go for an attack.

"Now's our chance, Turtwig! Go for a Take Down!" Turtwig nodded, charging at Stantler's back leg. On impact, it threw the Pokemon to its knee, leaving it vulnerable to another attack. Fennekin had begun charging across the street again, quickly enveloping itself in flames. He leaped into the air, hitting the Stantler in the chest, knocking it back towards Turtwig, who jumped back to our side of the field. In the brief time I had, I glanced over to Cade's battle, which was stunning. Croconaw and Loudred were gripping both of each other's hands, trying to push one another off-balance while occasionally headbutting one another. Both trainers were calling for their Pokemon to take action, Cade getting his word out faster.

"Croconaw. Water Gun, go!"

Croconaw's cheeks grew large, filling his entire mouth before firing a jet of water right into Loudred's mouth, launching it backwards some before it stopped to catch itself, being that the attack had a direct hit right at the back of the Pokemon's mouth. With no hesitation, Croconaw launched another one, hitting the blue Pokemon right into its trainer, leaving it incapable to battle.

"Useless!" He said in a disgruntled, defeated tone. He looked over to his comrade, whose Pokemon was now sloppily trying to fend off both Alyssa's and mine with its injured leg. The tanned grunt grew uneasy and frustrated at his Pokemon's inability to battle efficiently. It was clearly on its last leg, making this a prime opportunity to finish the battle.

"Fennekin! Tackle attack! We can finish this!" I shouted, motivating Fennekin to make the final hit. Alyssa looked over to me, and went down a similar road.

"You too, Turtwig! Tackle Stantler from the other side!" Turtwig nodded back to Alyssa and charged in for the attack. Both of the small Pokemon leaped to head-level with Stantler, and plowed into the sides of its heads, bringing a startled look into its eyes before falling completely to the ground, lying on its stomach. The grunt clenched his fists in anger.

"You stupid, stupid…" He growled as he returned his Pokemon to its Pokeball. "This wasn't supposed to happen... We weren't supposed to lose to a bunch of punk kids!" She shouted at his partner. He began running away in the opposite direction, leaving the pale man in the dust.

"Hey! Where are you going? We have a job!" He shouted. "Forget it! There's no way it'll get done right without Pokemon to do it with! Get your butt up and lets go!" He shouted back, keeping consistent with his run. The frightened man returned Loudred to its Pokeball before running after his fleeing cohort.

"You kids got lucky, that's all! Just know that this isn't the end of **Team Gravity**, you better know!"

Cade returned Croconaw to his Pokeball as he began chasing after them. "Oh, no. Not this time. _This_ time you'll face me, thieves! This time I can _do_ something about it!" He shouted in a fury, chasing after the two fleeing men. We tried to gather his attention, but failed as if we said nothing at all. We watched the three run over the horizon line of the road as people slowly exited their homes, some quickly coming to the care of the injured police officer. In the calm after the storm, I looked to the ground to see the crumpled piece of paper Cade had been holding. I picked up the crushed object and began unfolding it, painfully recognizing it. It was the card Cade had kept from the briefcase, but it now had a red streak of marker across the insignia. _Team Gravity_… Shivers shot down my spine with the last words the one said. I had a feeling that it truly wouldn't be the last time we see them. Not after this.


	7. Chapter 7: Shocking Magic P1

Chapter Seven: Shocking Magic [P.1]

Alyssa and I made our way from the scene with our Pokemon at our sides, trying to stay out of the way of anyone trying to help out. Once we made our way back down the way, we were stopped by a woman who had a youthful atmosphere about her.

"You two are new to town, right? I think I saw you come in." She said in an apologetic tone. "I'm very sorry about the chaos, it's usually not like this." Her hand was resting on my shoulder, and she was lightly petting the side of my neck with her thumb.

"It's, uh… It's okay. I'm just glad our friend got those thugs on the run." I responded, backing away from the woman's gentle grip. She lowered her arm back down, and nodded to us with a smile before walking past us, playfully nudging me on the shoulder with hers. Brushing off my discomfort, I continued towards the Pokemon Center behind Alyssa, who had made her way there while I was talking with the woman. After the nurse had healed both of our Pokemon, she held us up for a moment.

"Since you two are trainers, are you planning on battling Falust's Gym Leader, Emelia?" She questioned.

"Of course!" I responded, happy to know that my third badge was so close. "Could you point us the right way?

The nurse giggled at my excitement, and pointed to her right. "Just go up the staircase to the left of the building next to us, turn right on the sidewalk and the Gym is right at the end."

Before she could finish her sentence, I was already power walking towards the door, anxious to get moving. Alyssa followed me out, jogging to catch up.

"Jude, relax!" She shouted ahead to me. "The gym isn't going anywhere, so why the rush?" She finished, running out of breath as she got to my side.

I looked at her, not breaking the rhythm in my stride. "I've still got some of the energy from those two goons, so I want to get into battling again before I lose the hype!" I responded with energy. With the comment of the men, two things came back to mind. Team Gravity, and Cade. I didn't know exactly what was going through Cade's mind, and I didn't want to make any assumptions. I took the thoughts away by distracting myself with the here and now. After swiftly following the path that the nurse described to us, the gym was right in front of us. It was a building of decent size, much larger than Ethan's gym, but smaller than Casper's mansion. The roof was pointed into a pyramid shape somewhat highly in the air, and bore a salmon-like color as well as the corners of the building. It stretched from a plain rectangular building into another square building attached on the side. We entered the automatic doors to see a sight that burned my eyes. The walls were a vibrant pink, with a design of swirls across the wall in a consistent pattern of light pink and pale yellow, with video cameras that were decorated with a floral pattern sat in each corner of the building. The floor was near translucent, with small lighting fixtures underneath each tile, which looked around one foot by one foot in size. There were small walls standing in the shape of a maze, each wall standing at least six feet tall, but still allowing a healthy amount of space above. I was never a fan of mazes, and the fact that this gym was shoving it at me as a puzzle before a battle really took away the hype I had coming through the door. As I was groaning in complaint, Alyssa stepped past me onto the clear floor, which emitted a clicking sound as it was pushed down. We both shifted our gazes to the floor, which was now glowing beneath her feet. The one tile gave off a yellow glow, and the ding it made was pleasant compared to the cornea-piercing walls of the building. Keeping my eyes on the floor, I followed her, causing the floor to give off another pleasant noise. Taking three more steps toward the first walls, each one gave off the same pleasing sounds. At this point, I figured that the floor was only to be a nice touch of flare to the gym. Directly ahead of us was a split in the maze, allowing us to either go left or right. Alyssa positioned her finger on her chin in thought as she stared down the paths. She soon nodded at her own thoughts and went onto the first tile of the right path. Underneath her foot, the tile flashed into a harsh red light that gave a sound equivalent to a screeching roar, followed by the sound of clicks behind us, I turned to see that the tiles that we had walked on before had all lost their light We heard a mild beep come from the far corner of the room, followed by a slightly staticy voice.

"**Please return to the beginning of the maze, young trainers. You'll get the hang of it!"**

We looked at each other in realization that we had to do it right the first time, or start over from the door. I audibly groaned in frustration. A sense of dread overcame me knowing that I had to actually do well in a maze. We returned to the door and watched the tiles we stepped on click back into place. I hesitated to step on them again, being that all motivation was lost in that horrible screeching sound.

After what felt like hours of trying to solve this maze, I was at the point of wanting to kick down one of the walls. At another accursed split of the walls, I was beyond wanting to think. I took the left path, only to be pushed over my edge by that atrocious sound from the floor. I pulled my beanie over my head and tried my hardest not to scream as the voice from the camera repeated the same thing he had said every time we stepped wrong.

"Jude, it'll be alright. At least we know more about the pattern than before…" Alyssa said to me in an attempt to calm me down. Her hands were secured over Turtwig's ears so he wouldn't go deaf from our consistent failures. As she started turning back, I looked around frantically trying to get this angry energy out of my body. In my flailing, my eyes met the top of the wall, which planted an idea into my head. I leaped up, securing my fingers on the top edge of the wall with a grunt. She turned around and gave me a look that screamed that I was crazy.

"Jude!" She shouted. "What are you doing?!"

I turned to look at her as I pulled myself higher up onto the wall, getting my knees up before standing.

"What I'm doing is getting this stupid maze over with!" I responded with fire in my voice. I stood completely, leaving only a small amount of space over my head. I caught my balance, and began scanning the room for a door as the voice from the camera shouted at me.

"**Young man, get off that wall immediately! This is against the rules!"**

Frustrated and uncaring, I stuck my tongue out at the camera before going back to searching. In a moment, my eyes caught a white door with a design on it that looked like a pink lightning bolt. I began sprinting across the top of the wall, jumping as I needed to not break pace. Alyssa yelled after me, eventually chasing me on the ground, causing every tile stepped on to give off the terrible noise. Once at the end, I leaped off, slamming right into the door. I gave myself no time for recovery, being that I had the adrenaline back to battle. I stood up shakily as Alyssa reached the door as well. I nodded at her, then going through the automatic door to see a special arena that appeared to have small reflector mirrors organized around the stage, traced by a steel wire, which also jutted from the edges onto the arena, and a young woman standing on the other end with her arms crossed over her chest. Her long, bright pink hair was drawn over her shoulder, and swirled into a glittering spiral down her front, reaching her knees. She wore a pink tank top which loosely hung over a tight looking, white leather skirt. Her eyes were a piercing, and unusual, yellowish gold color, and her face was decorating with sparkling make-up.

"So, you're the Gym Leader?" I asked with excitement. "What are we waiting for? Let's battle!"

She shot me a scornful look, criticising me with her eyes. "Don't think I didn't see how you made it here!" She shouted. Her voice was very feminine, and even in her anger, it barely felt like she was scolding me. Before I could respond to her initial comment with my frustrated retaliation from her infuriating puzzle, she slowly looked up and down my body, followed by a small, but intrigued grin. "You know, I could overlook your… misbehavior, but only if you agree to my terms. Her voice was laced with a tone that rearose the discomfort that the woman in the street caused. I looked at her with curiosity for what she wanted, being that I didn't want to have to be sent back to the door of the building to waste even more hours of my life on a stupid maze.

"If _you_ win, I'll give you the badge…" She started, hanging on her last word as she slowly worked her fingertips up her thigh and pulled a Pokeball from her belt, leaving two others attached at both sides of the taken one. "But if _I_ win, You're going to have to spend some… _time_ here with me. Deal?" She finished, preparing her Pokemon for battle with a higher pitch in her last word. I didn't want to think about how she'd punish me for cheating and losing, but I wasn't about to find out. Determination burned in me as I prepared my Pokemon to combat hers. "I accept this challenge! It's on!" I shouted across the room, widening the smile that was already worn on her face.

"Okay, then." She started, extending her other arm in a point directed at me. "I, Emilia of the Falust Town Gym, accept your Gym Challenge!" She stood in a stance shouting that she was ready for battle. "Go, Pichu!" She called as the ball was tossed at the floor, releasing a small, yellow, mouse-like Pokemon. It's head was like a small ball, with pointed ears that were black at the tips and a pale pink color on each cheek. It was absolutely adorable and I couldn't see for a moment how this could be a Pokemon she would use to battle. I pulled the dex out to see if it had anything to say that couldn't come to my mind.

_Pichu: The Tiny Mouse Pokemon._

_Despite its small size, it can zap even adult humans. However, if it does so, it even surprises itself._

While slightly concerning, I felt as though I had nothing to worry about. Confidently, and slightly amused at my opponent's choice, I threw my Pokeball out to the field. "Go, Geodude!" I called as the Rock-Type emerged from the ball, staring down its opponent, somewhat confused at the circumstance.

"Geodude, Rollout, go!" I called to snap him out of his gaze. He shook himself, slammed both fists on the ground and hopped into the air, pulling its arms in and throttling itself towards the small Electric-Type. To my surprise, as fast as light, it ran around Geodude, getting behind him as it fired a small bolt of electricity at one of the mirrors as Geodude slowed down to recompose. On impact, the mirror flared with a harsh light from Pichu's attack, right at Geodude, causing him to pull his hands over his eyes in reaction.

"Geodude!" I shouted. "Are you gonna be okay?"

In Geodude's distraction, Emelia wasted no time in counteracting. "Pichu, Sweet Kiss, go!" Her voice confident. I stared in confusion that she would use a move called "sweet kiss" in a battle as the mouse Pokemon jumped at Geodude, touching him with its mouth before landing on the other side.

"Geodude?" I asked out as he spun around. His eyes were swirling with confusion, and he clearly had trouble moving. "Jude!" Alyssa yelled from the side. I flinched my sight in her direction, startled out of focus of the battle.

"You need to get Geodude out of there! He's not going to get very far like that!" She said with meaning in her eyes and Turtwig at her side. I didn't listen to her. I didn't want to. I loved battling, and I was going to battle as I saw fit. It would be too embarrassing for Geodude to lose to a Pokemon like Pichu, who is half his size and has the type disadvantage. With determination in my voice, I tried to get his head back in the game.

"You can do this, Geodude! You're top mon, here! Go for another Rollout, pal!" I shouted with a shaky confidence. Geodude, visibly trying harder, propped itself up and began a roll, slowly, progressively growing faster. Once at a good speed, he launched, as to my dismay, Pichu dodged as last time, but Geodude didn't stop. He kept rolling until he slammed head-first into the wall of the arena, leaving a crater much like the one at the town hall. He rolled backwards from the wall, his look more dazed than before. While she appeared upset that my Pokemon broke a part of her wall, she also had a gleam of happiness in that Geodude's attack was an absolute failure in every aspect. I could tell he was completely out of it at this point, considering how his rolling looked like that of a ragdoll's. Ashamedly, I returned Geodude to his Pokeball as I drew Fennekin's from my bag. I couldn't believe how much trouble a Pokemon like Pichu could be, and it threw me even further out of the loop knowing that this was only her first Pokemon. I sent Fennekin out to see his opponent, and after a brief sneeze, he gave the same reaction as Geodude to his opponent.

"Fennekin, don't judge a book by its cover!" I shouted out, almost frantically. "It's fast! Like, really fast! Keep on your toes, buddy!" Fennekin nodded and prepared itself for battle. I hesitated, not wanted to make the first move again, but I couldn't hold it, and my mouth slipped.

"Fen, Flame Charge!"

The small fox Pokemon created the flame around its body and began charging at his opponent. Emelia smiled, knowing as well as I did that it was a mistake. "Pichu, dodge and give that cutie a Sweet Kiss!" The mouse bolted around Fennekin, and came back around just as it had with Geodude. I needed to stop this while I could.

"Fennekin! Swerve! Swerve now!" I panicked. Fennekin heard me, but didn't react quickly enough. Pichu's mouth landed on Fennekin, and I closed my eyes in stubborn acceptance for defeat, but things went differently than I expected. I opened my eyes to see Pichu go over Fennekin, but holding its mouth with its tiny paws. Fennekin hopped back, the flame charge losing heat, giving me a better view. Through Pichu's hands I saw that it had burned its mouth trying to use Sweet Kiss. Emelia was in a fit, with a shocked look painted across her face. While I felt bad for it, I smiled and readied an attack before the opportunity slipped.

"Alright, Fen! This is our chance! Tackle attack, go!" I said triumphantly, pointing at Pichu. Fennekin charged it, slamming right into the small Pokemon with its eyes still closed, and practically launching it to the edge of the field, being as light-weight as it was. It laid on the field, unable to battle, and muttering adorably to itself. She returned Pichu to the ball and placed it back onto her belt, reaching for the ball to its right. I was glad I had taken down that glass cannon, but I was fearful of what other electric artillery she had in store against me.


End file.
